Lunar Meteorite: Northwest Africa 12952

from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 108

Northwest Africa 12952 (NWA 12952)

(Northwest Africa)
Purchase: 2011
Mass: 808 g (1 piece)

Lunar meteorite (feldspathic breccia)

History: Found in 2011 at an undisclosed desert location and purchased in 2018 by Luc Labenne from a dealer in Erfoud, Morocco. Subsequently the stone was acquired by Hermès, Paris.

Physical characteristics: Very fresh specimen with a glassy exterior coating. The interior exhibits numerous small clasts in a black matrix.

Petrography: (A. Irving, UWS and P. Carpenter, WUSL) Breccia composed of a variety of mineral clasts and rare fayalite-hedenbergite-silica symplectite clasts in a much finer grained crystalline matrix. Minerals are anorthitic plagioclase, subcalcic augite (zoned to ferropigeonite), olivine, chromite, augite with pigeonite exsolution lamellae, fayalite, hedenbergite, silica polymorph, ilmenite, troilite, zircon and baddeleyite.

Geochemistry: Olivine (Fa_34.1-49.9, FeO/MnO = 85-103, N = 7), subcalcic augite (Fs_24.0-39.8Wo_28.9-28.1, FeO/MnO = 48-65, N = 2), ferropigeonite (Fs_54.7-67.2Wo_20.9-23.0, FeO/MnO = 70-87, N = 2), pigeonite (Fs_31.6Wo_13.2, FeO/MnO = 57), augite (Fs_16.6Wo_36.3, FeO/MnO = 40), fayalite (Fa_83.8, FeO/MnO = 105), plagioclase (An_89.2-90.8Or_0.2-0.3, N = 2).

Classification: Lunar (feldspathic breccia).

Specimens: 20.2 g including a polished endcut at UWB; remainder with Hermès, 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75 008 Paris.

Randy Says…

I have not studied Northwest Africa 12952. I suspect that this a basalt-bearing meteorite from the description, possibly another NWA 7611 pair. The plagioclase is more albitic than is typical of a feldspathic lunar meteorite.

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

NWA 12952