Why No Stony Meteorites On Mars? Mystery Solved.
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    • Why No Stony Meteorites on Mars? Mystery Solved.
    Meteorites found on Earth are 94% stony meteorites, 5% iron meteorites, and 1% stony iron meteorites. Billions of stony meteorites have fallen on Earth and tens of thousands of them have been recorded by scientists. However, no stony meteorites have ever been found on Mars. All meteorites found on Mars are either iron meteorites or stony iron meteorites. Experts are baffled by this phenomenon and speculate on the mystery (ref. 1).

    The answer could be simply: Stony meteorites originate from Mars (ref. 2); when they returned to Mars, they were indistinguishable from other rocks on Mars.  

    Ref. 1: Experts’ explanations for no stony meteorites on Mars:

    “Previous work by Albert Yen (Jet Propulsion Lab) and colleagues using nickel abundances measured by the APXS indicates that the Martian soil and certain sedimentary rocks contain 1% to 3% contamination from meteorite debris. So why haven't stony (chondritic) meteorites been identified in the MER data? Schröder and coauthors suggest chondrites may be too weak to survive impact at current atmospheric densities. Or maybe MERs Opportunity and Spirit just happened to move through strewn fields of irons. Maybe more of the cobbles on the Martian plains and hills are stony meteorites that just haven't been recognized.”

    Source: http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/May08/MetsOnMars.html

    Ref. 2: Mars Produced Asteroid Belt and Meteorites

    http://wretchfossil.blogspot.com/2010/11/mars-produced-asteroid-belt-and.html

     

     

     

     
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