[meteorite-list] Phobosian and Demosian meteorites

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Feb 2 14:03:53 2005
Message-ID: <200502021903.LAA20388_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

>
> http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=3763
>

A quote from this article:

"Of the 23,000 meteorites have been catalogued so far, none of them is like the Kaidun meteorite, which contains minerals that have never been seen before. Ivanov calls it "new and weird."

It contains fragments of volcanic rock, which only forms in large, planet-like bodies with a core, mantle and crust. This could come from Martian volcanoes throwing rocks out into the atmosphere."

The second statement isn't quite correct. We know that basaltic rocks can
originate from large asteroids. Lava flows have been observed on Vesta, for example.

The other point is that Phobos and Deimos are most likely captured asteroids, and
their composition do match carbonaceous chondrites. However, there are thousands
of other asteroids that are candidates as well . I haven't seen a way to
specifically match a meteorite to either Phobos and Deimos, and exclude the
other asteroid candidates.

Ron Baalke
Received on Wed 02 Feb 2005 02:03:40 PM PST