New Delhi, India

Mars was hit by an asteroid 11 million years ago because of which pieces of the Red Planet had been disbursed into space. 

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A chunk of this Red Planet later crashed into the Earth close to Purdue University. The researchers at Purdue University rediscovered this meteorite in 1931 and it was named Lafayette Meteorite.

During Lafayette Meteorite's early investigations, scientists found that it had interacted with liquid water on Mars. 

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A group of scientists, which included two from the College of Science at Purdue University, were able to find out the age of the minerals in the Lafayette Meteorite which were formed when water existed. 

Here's how scientists found the age of minerals

Assistant professor with the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) at Purdue University Marissa Trembla, who is the lead author of the study, said that she is using noble gases like helium, neon and argon for studying the chemical and physical processes which shape the surfaces of Earth and other planets. 

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She said that some meteorites from Mars had minerals which were formed when they interacted with liquid water when on the red planet. 

"Dating these minerals can therefore tell us when there was liquid water at or near the surface of Mars in the planet's geologic past," Trembla said. 

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"We dated these minerals in the Martian meteorite Lafayette and found that they formed 742 million years ago. We do not think there was abundant liquid water on the surface of Mars at this time. Instead, we think the water came from the melting of nearby subsurface ice called permafrost, and that the permafrost melting was caused by magmatic activity that still occurs periodically on Mars to the present day," she added. 

"The age could have been affected by the impact that ejected the Lafayette Meteorite from Mars, the heating Lafayette experienced during the 11 million years it was floating out in space, or the heating Lafayette experienced when it fell to Earth and burned up a little bit in Earth's atmosphere. But we were able to demonstrate that none of these things affected the age of aqueous alteration in Lafayette," the lead author further stated. 

Meanwhile, senior research scientist with Purdue EAPS Ryan Ickert said, "This meteorite uniquely has evidence that it has reacted with water. The exact date of this was controversial, and our publication dates when water was present." 

(With inputs from agencies)