[meteorite-list] Octahedrite formation and Mars

From: tracy latimer <daistiho_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Oct 28 01:52:03 2004
Message-ID: <BAY22-F7PTeip68V8zD00020dd7_at_hotmail.com>

I was just reading Meteorites and the Origin of Planets, by John A. Wood.
In it, I found a statement that octahedrites are formed by exceptionally
slow cooling over millions of years, such as might be found in the insulated
center of a planetoid. We already know that Mars has a very weak magnetic
field and negligible vulcanism, leading some scientists to believe that its
core has largely cooled. Might this mean that, if we were able to extract a
chunk of Martian core, it would exhibit an octahedral pattern? Anyone care
to speculate on the nickel content of the Martian core?

Mars is one big Wiedmanstatten pattern!
Tracy Latimer

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Received on Thu 28 Oct 2004 01:51:57 AM PDT