Shergottite

This meteorite started out as part of a basalt lava flow on the surface of Mars. Millions of years ago it was blasted into space by a large meteorite impacting with Mars. Pieces of the ejected rock then travelled around the Solar System for even more millions of years before finally reaching Earth. Gases trapped in the rock are identical to the atmosphere of Mars as discovered by the NASA rovers on the planet, this, along with the chemical composition, provides some of the evidence for the meteorites origin. This piece is a small part of an 18 kilogram mass which fell on 3rd Oct 1962 at Zagami, in Nigeria, Africa and it shows part of the melted, black fusion crust formed when it entered the Earth’s atmosphere. Similar specimens were first found at Shergaty in India and this location gave rise to the name of this class of meteorite, Shergottite.