Lunar Meteorite: Northwest Africa 11474

NWA 8046-clan pair?

Three of the Northwest Africa 11474 stones. Photo credit: Mendy Ouzilou
Slices of 2 NWA 11474 stones. Photo credit: Dustin Dickens
Four of the NWA 11474 stones. Photo credits: Heritage Auctions

from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 106

Northwest Africa 11474

(northwestern Africa)
Purchased: 2017 May 10
Mass: 586 g (many pieces)

Lunar Meteorite

History: Purchased by Dustin Dickens and Mendy Ouzillou from a Mauritanian meteorite dealer May 10, 2017.

 Physical characteristics: Many identical appearing pieces, no fusion crust. A saw cut reveals a fragmental breccia with numerous white feldspathic clasts set in a dark-gray ground mass.

 Petrography: (C. Agee, UNM) This meteorite consists of primarily feldspathic clasts and shock melt with lesser amounts of fragmental pyroxene and olivine.

Geochemistry: (C. Agee and B. Ha, UNM) olivine Fa19.3±0.6, Fe/Mn=86±1, n=2; pigeonite Fs24.8±0.5Wo4.3±0.3, Fe/Mn=60±9, n=2; high Ca pyroxene Fs27.4Wo34.4, Fe/Mn=58, n=1; plagioclase An97.8±0.7Ab2.0±0.6Or0.2±0.1, n=6; Shock melt (20 μm defocused electron beam, proxy for bulk meteorite composition): SiO2=44.4±0.8, TiO2=0.21±0.01, Al2O3=27.5±1.1, Cr2O3=0.07±0.02, MgO=5.7±1.4, FeO=4.2±1.3, MnO=0.07±0.02, CaO=16.2±0.5, Na2O=0.42±0.04, K2O=0.01±0.02 (all wt%), Fe/Mn=63±1, Mg#=70.1±1.1, n=3.

Classification: Lunar feldspathic breccia

Specimens: 20 g including a probe mount on deposit at UNM, Dustin Dickens and Mendy Ouzillou hold the main mass.

Randy Says…

I have not studied 11474. I would not be surprised if this were yet another batch of  NWA-8046-clan stones.

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

NWA 11474

References

Caliskan O., Kaya M., and Yesiltas M. (2019) Molecular composition of a recent lunar meteorite: Northwest Africa 11474. 82nd Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, abstract no. 6080.

Consolmagno G. J., Macke R. J., Opeil C. P., and Britt D. T. (2023) Thermal and physical properties of lunar meteorites at low temperatures. 86th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, abstract no. 6092.

Macke R. J., Opeil C. P., Britt D. T., Consolmagno G. J., Irving A. (2024) Low-temperature thermal and physical properties of lunar meteorites. Meteoritics & Planetary Science 59, 1610-1631. https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.14171

Ogura A. J., Yumoto K., Cho Y., Niihara T., Kameda S., and Sugita S. (2021) Elemental analysis of lunar meteorites using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, abstract no. 1729.

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