Tissint (Morocco) is the fifth martian meteorite collected after it was witnessed falling to Earth. Our integrated mineralogical, petrological, and geochemical study shows that it is a depleted picritic shergottite similar to EETA79001A. Highly magnesian olivine and abundant glass containing martian atmosphere are present in Tissint. Refractory trace element, sulfur, and fluorine data for the matrix and glass veins in the meteorite indicate the presence of a martian surface component. Thus, the influence of in situ martian weathering can be unambiguously distinguished from terrestrial contamination in this meteorite. Martian weathering features in Tissint are compatible with the results of spacecraft observations of Mars. Tissint has a cosmic-ray exposure age of 0.7 ± 0.3 million years, consistent with those of many other shergottites, notably EETA79001, suggesting that they were ejected from Mars during the same event.

Atmosphere of Mars

Martian soil

Extraterrestrial Life

10.1126/science.1224514

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The origin, history and role of water in the evolution of the inner Solar System

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences (2017)

S. S. Russell C. J. Ballentine M. M. Grady

You have accessMoreSectionsView PDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail Cite this article Russell Sara S., Ballentine Chris J. and Grady Monica M. 2017The origin, history and role of water in the evolution of the inner Solar SystemPhil. Trans. R. Soc. A.3752017010820170108http://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2017.0108SectionYou have accessIntroductionThe origin, history and role of water in the evolution of the inner Solar System Sara S. Russell Sara S. Russell Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK [email protected] Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author , Chris J. Ballentine Chris J. Ballentine Department of Earth Sciences, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3AN, UK Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author and Monica M. Grady Monica M. Grady Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author Sara S. Russell Sara S. Russell Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK [email protected] Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author , Chris J. Ballentine Chris J. Ballentine Department of Earth Sciences, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3AN, UK Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author and Monica M. Grady Monica M. Grady Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author Published:17 April 2017https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2017.0108Water, as the oxide of the most abundant element in the universe, is widespread in the galaxy. On the Earth, it plays a fundamentally important role in both the Earth and life sciences. Water controls the rheology of the deep Earth and its ability to convect affects igneous processes by increasing the viscosity of melts, and this role in changing the behaviour of igneous systems is required for plate tectonics to occur. Water has a controlling influence on the composition of our atmosphere, on climatic processes and is essential for all forms of life.The last few years has seen a quiet revolution in our understanding of water in the inner Solar System. Liquid water was once considered essentially the preserve only of the planet Earth, placed in the ‘Goldilocks zone’: not too close to the Sun to allow surface water to evaporate by heating, and not so far away as to be cold and barren—as Mars was assumed to be. Early work on the samples returned from the Apollo missions reported them to be ‘as dry as a bone’ [1], leading to models of moon formation involving loss of all its volatiles [2]. Recent discoveries have challenged these views. The exploration of Mars, combined with work on martian meteorites, have shown that this planet contains rocks that have been altered by aqueous processes, and its surface has been moulded by the action of solid and liquid water [3]. Remote sensing missions to the Moon have indicated the presence of OH− deposits on its poles. In parallel, studies of samples returned from the Moon, combined with studies of lunar meteorites, have shown that lunar water is stored in apatite and other minerals (e.g. [4]).While we have data for water on several Solar System bodies (Earth, Moon, Mars and Vesta) its exact abundance in planets, even the Earth, is poorly constrained. Generally, the inner Solar System in general is depleted in all volatile components including water [5] but planetary and asteroidal bodies show huge bulk variations in volatile element abundance. The cause of this depletion is not clear: it may be inherited, or due to loss during impacts, or a mixture of the two processes (e.g. [6]).Water in the terrestrial planets may be either exogenous or indigenous. Modelling by Elkins-Tanton et al. [7] has shown that the terrestrial planets can retain water on accretion at levels that may not require further addition post-accretion. Furthermore, as they outline in their paper in this issue, this primordial water may facilitate the early onset of plate tectonics on the Earth [8]. A low D/H component recently identified from the deep mantle suggests that some of Earth's water was derived from the primordial protosolar nebular [9,10].If water on the terrestrial planets were instead acquired by impact after their formation, then watery comets and rocky asteroids are both potential suspects for delivering volatiles. Comets have a good potential in this role, as they are composed mainly of water, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide along with organic material, silicates and oxides. The Rosetta mission approached the nucleus of the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko and delivered the Philae lander to the surface in 2014 [11]. This mission showed that comets are highly heterogeneous in their composition, resulting from their diurnal cycles [12]. Although having planets pelted with cometary snowballs is an appealing model to deliver volatiles, the C, N and O isotopic evidence rule out most comets as the source of most inner Solar System water. Terrestrial Kr isotopic compositions, nevertheless, show that later comet addition, while not contributing significantly to the C,N,H2O, may have played an important role in sourcing the noble gas budget of the Earth's atmosphere [13].Instead, the isotopic evidence points to the main source of water in the inner Solar System being asteroids. The isotopic composition of the inner Solar System (terrestrial planets and the asteroid belt) is clearly distinct from the outer Solar System (comets). While a minority of comets have a D/H ratio, for example, similar to the Earth, the majority have highly enriched D/H, ruling them out as major sources of Earth's water. Carbonaceous chondrites, especially CI chondrites, are the best match [14]. Water in chondrites is contained within clay minerals, with H2O accounting for up to 10 weight per cent of the bulk meteorite. Water is also stored in chondrites in direct liquid form [15] as inclusions within salt and other minerals.Water on the Moon may also provide insights into the origin of water on the Earth and other planets, since the Moon is a much simpler geological system, with an ancient surface providing a geological record back to its earliest stages of its history. Remote sensing measurements have detected hydroxyl molecules that may originate in a number of ways—it could be indigenous, from impacts or from solar wind implantation [16]. Modelling of D/H data from water contained within igneous lunar samples points to a source similar to carbonaceous chondrites [17] and so the origin of water in the Earth and moon are likely to be the same.How water on the Earth evolved was also discussed at our meeting. Ancient (up to approx. 2 billion years old) water trapped in crystalline rock fracture networks has recently been discovered [18,19]. Water–rock reactions in mafic systems generate hydrogen, methane and light hydrocarbons which are bioavailable. The discovery of biofriendly terrestrial subsurface fluid systems which are stable on planetary timescales demonstrate the capacity for other planets' near surface to support life irrespective of the present day planetary surface conditions.From discussions at the meeting, a consensus emerged that volatiles were likely incorporated into the terrestrial planets both during planetary accretion and later by asteroidal impacts. The discussion also threw up some unsolved problems. Given its immense importance on the Earth, an important issue is whether surface and subsurface water is an expected consequence of the formation of any Earth-like planet. Would the hydrosphere in terrestrial exo-planets be compatible with them being habitable? Understanding the origin, evolution and role of inner Solar System water is critical to our understanding of the geological and biological evolution of planets in our Solar System and beyond.Competing interestsWe declare we have no competing interests.FundingWe acknowledge funding from STFC.AcknowledgementsWe warmly thank the Royal Society and its staff for their assistance in the planning of this conference and in the development of this special issue of Phil. Trans. A.FootnotesOne contribution of 9 to a Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘The origin, history and role of water in the evolution of the inner Solar System’.© 2017 The Author(s)Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.References1Taylor SR. 1979Structure and evolution of the Moon. Nature 281, 105–110. (doi:10.1038/281105a0) Crossref, ISI, Google Scholar2Hartmann WR, Davis DR. 1975Satellite-sized planetesimals and lunar origin. Icarus 24, 504–515. 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(doi:10.1038/nature14017) Crossref, PubMed, ISI, Google Scholar Next Article VIEW FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD PDF FiguresRelatedReferencesDetailsCited by Liu T, Gautam S, Daemen L, Kolesnikov A, Anovitz L, Hartl M and Cole D (2020) Vibrational Behavior of Water Adsorbed on Forsterite (Mg 2 SiO 4 ) Surfaces , ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.0c00084, 4:7, (1050-1063), Online publication date: 16-Jul-2020. Souza V and Eguiarte L (2018) In the Beginning, There Was Fire: Cuatro Ciénegas Basin (CCB) and the Long History of Life on Earth Cuatro Ciénegas Ecology, Natural History and Microbiology, 10.1007/978-3-319-93423-5_2, (21-33), . Russell B, Vuglar S and Rabitz H (2018) Control landscapes for a class of non-linear dynamical systems: sufficient conditions for the absence of traps, Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, 10.1088/1751-8121/aacc85, 51:33, (335103), Online publication date: 17-Aug-2018. Katyal N, Nikolaou A, Godolt M, Grenfell J, Tosi N, Schreier F and Rauer H (2019) Evolution and Spectral Response of a Steam Atmosphere for Early Earth with a Coupled Climate–Interior Model, The Astrophysical Journal, 10.3847/1538-4357/ab0d85, 875:1, (31) This Issue28 May 2017Volume 375Issue 2094Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘The origin, history and role of water in the evolution of the inner Solar System’� organized and edited by Sara S. Russell, Chris Ballentine, Monica M. Grady Article InformationDOI:https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2017.0108Published by:Royal SocietyPrint ISSN:1364-503XOnline ISSN:1471-2962History: Manuscript accepted21/02/2017Published online17/04/2017Published in print28/05/2017 License:© 2017 The Author(s)Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Citations and impact Subjectssolar system

10.1098/rsta.2017.0108

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Citations (7)

Presolar components in the Murray C2M chondrites s-process Xe and heavy carbon.

Meteoritics and Planetary Science (1986)

Mingkai Tang R. S. Lewis E. Anders M. M. Grady I. P. Wright

Carbon fibers

Source

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Citations (2)

Solar system evolution: A new perspective

Chemical Geology (1993)

M. M. Grady

10.1016/0009-2541(93)90080-3

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WatSen: searching for clues for water (and life) on Mars

International Journal of Astrobiology (2006)

M. M. Grady

There is plenty of evidence for fluid on Mars: large-scale (planet-wide) features have been captured over four decades by a procession of orbiting satellites equipped with cameras with increasingly higher spatial resolutions. Imagery of the surface shows channels, valleys, ice-caps, etc. Small-scale, more local evidence for fluid has come from images obtained by rovers on the Martian surface. Images that water produced many of the features are supported by spectroscopic measurements (again both planet-wide and local) over a range of wavelengths, which show the presence of minerals generally only produced in the presence of water (haemetite, jarosite, etc.). Results from meteorites continue this picture of fluid activity taking place over significant periods of Mars' history. Despite all these indicators of water, direct detection of water has never been performed. We have reviewed the evidence for water on Mars' surface, and have described WatSen, a combined humidity sensor and infrared IR detector, which can be employed to search for water at and below Mars' surface. WatSen is designed to be part of the suite of instruments on the mole that will be deployed as part of the Geophysics and Environment Package on ExoMars. The objectives of the package are as follows: (i) to detect water within Martian soil by measuring humidity and IR spectral characteristics of the substrate at surface and at depth; (ii) to determine the mineralogy and mineral chemistry of surface soils (this measurement will provide the mineralogical context for the elemental results that come from other instruments mounted on the landing platform); (iii) to determine how mineralogy changes with depth. The utility of WatSen is that it will not only detect the presence of water, but will also be able to record which minerals are present and their chemistry; it is also sensitive to many organic species. WatSen is a new instrument concept specifically designed to search for clues of the presence of water, and to look for evidence of life on Mars.

10.1017/s1473550406003077

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Citations (3)