Palaeomagnetism of the Vredefort meteorite crater and implications for craters on Mars

Laurent Carporzen, Stuart A. Gilder () and Rodger J. Hart
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Laurent Carporzen: Laboratoire de Paléomagnétisme
Stuart A. Gilder: Laboratoire de Paléomagnétisme
Rodger J. Hart: University of the Witwatersrand, Schonland Research Center

Nature, 2005, vol. 435, issue 7039, 198-201

Abstract: Martian magnetism: all is not lost Recent exploration on Mars has revealed much lower magnetic field intensities over the gigantic impact craters Hellas and Argyre than in the surrounding area. The reduced fields are commonly attributed to pressure demagnetization due to shock waves generated during meteorite impact, which implies that Mars had no internally generated magnetic field at the time. A study of the Vredefort crater in South Africa, one of the largest and oldest known impact craters on Earth, reveals that here as on Mars, magnetic field intensities above the giant crater are lower than average. Yet the rocks in this crater possess much higher magnetic intensities than similar rocks elsewhere on Earth. Palaeomagnetic data show that the magnetic directions of these crater rocks are randomly oriented, suggesting that the magnetic anomalies of the martian craters may likewise not be a result of the absence of a magnetic field on the planet.

Date: 2005
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DOI: 10.1038/nature03560

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