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Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies

ASU donor and Center for Meteorite Studies featured in Science Magazine article on the Black Beauty Martian meteorite!

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NWA 7034, aka Black Beauty. Image credit: NASA

A recent article published in Science features the Martian meteorite NWA 7034 (aka Black Beauty), and details its discovery and distribution among collections.

This meteorite is a polymict breccia containing a diverse assemblage of igneous and “sedimentary” materials. It was most likely produced by impact, but also involved volcanic and low-temperature alteration processes.

The bulk chemical composition of this meteorite closely matches that of the Martian crust as measured by NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers and Mars Odyssey Orbiter. It also contains the most amount of water (approximately ~0.6 wt%) of any of the known Martian meteorites.

See the CT image movie of the Center's slice of this unique and rare meteorite here!