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Encyclopedia of Astrobiology pp 1Cite as

Shergotty

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Shergotty is a 5 kg Martian meteorite discovered in 1865 in Shergotty (now Sherghati), India. It also names a subgroup of the SNC meteorites, the shergottites, representing 78 % of the Martian meteorites. Its age has been dated to ca. 165 Ma by most isotopic systems, but according to the Pb-Pb dating, it can be as old as 4.3 Ga. Although shergottite source craters have been identified on young terrains in Tharsis and Elysium provinces, the Mojave crater, formed on a 4.3 Ga old terrain, has been recently found to match the mineralogy of Shergotty. Petrologically, Shergotty is a basaltic sample (containing pyroxene and plagioclase but no olivine or chromite), enriched in trace elements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, Germany

    Ana-Catalina Plesa

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  1. Ana-Catalina Plesa
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Correspondence to Ana-Catalina Plesa .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Biología Molecular, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo Amils

  2. Labo. d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (LAB), Observatoire Aquitain des Sciences de l'Univers (OASU), Floirac CX, France

    Muriel Gargaud

  3. Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Inst. Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain

    José Cernicharo Quintanilla

  4. Geophysical Lab., Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Henderson James Cleaves

  5. Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    William M. Irvine

  6. Dépt. Sc. de la Terre et de l’Atmosphère, Université du Québec, Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Daniele Pinti

  7. Centre National d'Etudes Spatiale (CNES) DPI/E2U, Paris CX, France

    Michel Viso

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Plesa, AC. (2014). Shergotty. In: Amils, R., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_5217-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_5217-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27833-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Shergotty
    Published:
    15 March 2023

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_5217-2

  2. Original

    Shergotty
    Published:
    20 April 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_5217-1

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