4.1 billion-year-old meteorite provides evidence of early Martian water

A meteorite discovered in the Sahara Desert in Mali in 2022 has been identified as the oldest Martian rock ever found on Earth. According to researchers, the specimen, named Teghaza 001, formed within the Martian crust at least 4.1 billion years ago. It stands out among the 435 known Martian meteorites due to its significant age and specific chemical composition.

Planetary scientist Yang Liu of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed by Caltech, reported that the meteorite is a coarse-grained igneous rock known as gabbro. The rock’s internal chemistry reveals it interacted with liquid water while cooling and crystallizing deep beneath the Martian surface. The magma from which the rock formed originated in the planet's mantle before rising to the crust. This discovery provides fresh evidence that early Mars was likely warmer and wetter than it is today, strengthening the hypothesis that the planet may have once been conducive to microbial life. Scientists continue to study the sample to better understand the geological history and evolution of our neighbor planet.