Tissintite
Tissintite is a high-pressure calcium-aluminium silicate first discovered in the Martian meteorite Tissint.
Tissintite is a high-pressure mineral with the chemistry of calcium-rich plagioclase arranged in a pyroxene-like structure. It was described in 2015 from the Tissint meteorite, a Martian shergottite that fell in Morocco in July 2011, and named after it.
The mineral formed when plagioclase in the rock was squeezed in the shock event that blasted it off Mars, reaching pressures estimated at around 30 gigapascals. It appears as tiny crystals inside shock-melt pockets, along with maskelynite and other high-pressure phases.
Tissintite is a good example of how impacts write their story into minerals. Its presence helps scientists estimate the violence of the event that launched a Martian rock into space, a key question in understanding how meteorites from Mars reach Earth.
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