Meteorite found in Sahara reveals water existed on Mars over 4 billion years ago

A meteorite that was discovered in Sahara desert in 2012 has revealed presence of water on Mars over 4 billion years ago. meteorite, that scientists had said was from Mars after a year of its discovery have confirmed existence of water on Red Planet prior to what was estimated before. A pair of meteorites were discovered eight years ago in rth West Africa, 50 grams from one of which was taken by scientists for analysis. 

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Water existed earlier than thought

According to University of Tokyo, scientists knew about presence of water on Mars prior to meteorites NWA 7034 and NWA 7533 were discovered in rth-West Africa. However, scientists had only estimated presence for at least 3.7 billion years. But discovery of meteorites has revealed that water existed on Mars 7,00,000 years prior to what was estimated before.

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meteorites are about 4.4 million years old, which makes m oldest Martian meteorite currently available. Professor Takashi Mikouch of University of Tokyo, who was also part of international team that was studying meteorite, said in a press release that mineral composition of rock shows that water may have been present on Mars much earlier than previously estimated. 

"Igneous clasts, or fragmented rock, in meteorite are formed from magma and are commonly caused by impacts and oxidation. This oxidation could have occurred if re was water present on or in Martian crust 4.4 billion years ago during an impact that melted part of crust. Our analysis also suggests such an impact would have released a lot of hydrogen, which would have contributed to planetary warming at a time when Mars already had a thick insulating atmosphere of carbon dioxide," Mikouch was quoted as saying by University of Tokyo. 

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Scientists are unsure wher water is a natural byproduct of planetary formation or it comes through asteroids. However, revelation of presence of water on Mars earlier than thought could answer critical question that researchers have been looking for decades. If water was present on Mars prior to what was estimated before, it suggests that water could well be a natural byproduct of planetary formation. 

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