The British and Irish Meteorite Society

Martian meteorite may hold secret to slowing global warming

The early Martian atmosphere lost much of its carbon dioxide through a reaction with rock – a reaction that could slow global warming on Earth.

A team of researchers including Museum meteorite curator Dr Caroline Smith, studied a Martian meteorite from the Museum’s collections and discovered evidence of ‘carbonation’, a process that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and locks it away in rocks. Their paper is published today in Nature Communications.

Carbonation occurs when certain minerals in rocks react with water and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to form new minerals. Carbon dioxide contributes to the greenhouse effect, trapping heat within the atmosphere of a planet.

The early Martian atmosphere was dense with high levels of carbon dioxide, creating a warmer, wetter planet than the one we see today. Mars now has less carbon dioxide and average temperatures of around -55 degrees C....

Scientists discover how the atmosphere of Mars turned to stone

Scientists at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, the University of Glasgow and the Natural History Museum in London may have discovered how Mars lost its early carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere to become the cold and arid planet we know today. This research provides the first direct evidence from Mars of a process, called ‘carbonation’ which currently removes carbon dioxide from our own atmosphere, potentially combating climate change on Earth.

It is widely recognised that accumulation of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere is contributing to global warming. The loss of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere of Mars, however, around 4000 million years ago is likely to have caused the planet to cool. So understanding how carbon dioxide was removed from the Martian atmosphere could lead to new ways of reducing the accumulation of greenhouse gases in our own atmosphere....

Meteorite may explain 'how Mars turned to stone'

A meteorite reveals clues to how Mars lost its thick, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere and became a cold, rocky desert, researchers say....