Lunar Meteorite: Northwest Africa 12428

from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 108

Northwest Africa 12428 (NWA 12428)

northwestern Africa
Find: 2017 October
Mass: 2070 g (1 piece)

Lunar Meteorite (Lunar meteorite (feldspathic breccia))

History: Purchased in November 2017 in Nouakchott, Mauritania. Reportedly found in Algeria near the northern Mali border region, October 2017.

Physical characteristics: Single stone, no fusion crust; saw cut reveals a breccia with scattered light-colored clasts set in a predominantly dark gray groundmass.

Petrography: (C. Agee, UNM) Microprobe examination shows fragmental breccia with many diverse clasts set in fine-grained, cataclastic groundmass. Melt veins and vesicles are present throughout.

Geochemistry: (C. Agee, UNM) Olivine Fa_23.5±14.5, Fe/Mn=102±20, n=9; clinopyroxene Fs_25.4±12.0Wo11.0±11.1, Fe/Mn=55±7, n=21; plagioclase An_96.5±0.3, n=14; shock melt veins (proxy for bulk composition) SiO₂=46.1±1.2, TiO₂=0.25±0.15, Cr₂O₃=0.16±0.08, Al₂O₃=24.3±2.5, MgO=9.6±2.9, FeO=6.3±2.7, MnO=0.09±0.03, CaO=13.7±1.0, Na₂O=0.38±0.11, K₂O=0.10±0.06 (all wt%), n=4.

Classification: Lunar, feldspathic breccia

Specimens: 23.8 g on deposit at UNM, DPitt holds the main mass.

Randy Says…

I have not studied Northwest Africa 12428. It may be another stone of the NWA 8046 clan.

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

NWA 12428