.52" Polished Martian Meteorite Slice (0.75 grams) - Africa

The meteorite known as NWA(14714) is a shergottite meteorite purchased in January 2021 in northwestern Africa. It is identified as four identical appearing stones with desert-weathered exteriors.

Saw cuts reveal a medium grained cumulate with light and dark crystals. The darker crystals coincide with areas that appear to be shock darkened, and numerous black shock melt pockets are present.

Shergottites, named for the Shergotty meteorite that fell to Earth in 1865, are Martian rocks ejected from Mars by impacts and later fell to the Earth as meteorites. They are one of three main types of Martian meteorite, including nakhlites (clinopyroxenites or wehrlites, formed as cumulate rocks, and named after the Nakhla, Egypt, fall of 1911), and chassignites (dunitic cumulate rocks named after the Chassigny, France, fall of 1815).

Shergottites may have crystallised as recently as 180 million years ago. This is unusual, since most of the surface of Mars appears to be ancient, and the planet itself is rather small. Because of this, some have advocated the idea that the shergottites are much older than this. This "Shergottite Age Paradox" remains unsolved and is still an area of active research and debate.