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The 410,000 year terrestrial age of eucrite Río Cuarto 001
Author(s) -
LEVINE Jonathan,
ARAZI Andrés,
FAESTERMANN Thomas,
NIELLO Jorge O. FERNáNDEZ,
KORSCHINEK Gunther,
GAMMA Ana María,
NEGRI Agustín,
RUGEL Georg,
STEIER Peter,
WALLNER Anton
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
meteoritics and planetary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.09
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1945-5100
pISSN - 1086-9379
DOI - 10.1111/j.1945-5100.2008.tb00685.x
Subject(s) - meteorite , geology , basalt , geochemistry , chondrite , weathering , astrobiology , earth science , physics
— We have measured a surprisingly long terrestrial age of 410,000 ± 45,00 20,000 yr (410 ± 20 45 ka) for basaltic eucrite Río Cuarto 001 using accelerator mass spectrometry of 26 Al, 36 Cl, and 41 Ca. Though many meteorites are known to have survived for tens or hundreds of ka in Antarctica or hot deserts, the mean annual precipitation of 815 mm in Río Cuarto, Cordoba Province, Argentina, makes the long survival of this meteorite remarkable. We propose two explanations for the exceptional preservation of Río Cuarto 001. First, the meteorite contains only trace amounts of metal, so the weathering and oxidation of metallic Fe, which commonly destroys chondrites, is ineffective in this case. Second, the meteorite was found in a relatively young deflation basin, and may have been exhumed only recently from beneath a protective layer of soil. Insofar as the survival on Earth of Río Cuarto 001 is due to environmental factors, there may be other meteorites with comparably long terrestrial ages still to be discovered in the vicinity.