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Article: Recent water on Mars? (Lafayette meteorite contains iddingsite, which forms only in presence of water)(Astronomy)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- April 5, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In 1931, a scientist happened on a rock languishing in a desk drawer in the geology department at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. The rock, ultimately found to hail from Mars, now has another claim to fame. Scientists say the age and composition of certain parts of this so-called Lafayette meteorite hint that water flowed at or near the surface of the Red Planet as recently as 700 million years ago.
The meteorite, say Timothy D. Swindle of the University of Arizona in Tucson and his colleagues, contains an abundance of iddingsite, a mixture of clays and iron oxides that forms only in the presence of water. Analyzing 10 samples of the meteorite by radioactive ...