Lunar Meteorite: Dhofar 490 & 1084

paired stones

Dhofar 1084 in the field. Photo credits: Siegfried Beutel
Two sides of Dhofar 1084. Image credit: Norbert Classen
A 1.2-g slice of Dhofar 490 (left) and a 2.1-g slice of Dhofar 1084 (right). Image credit: Norbert Classen
Two sides of a lab sample of Dhofar 490. Image credit: Randy Korotev
Lab samples of Dhofar 1084. Image credit: Randy Korotev
from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 87

Dhofar 490

Oman
Found: 2001 March 17
Mass: 34.05 g  (1 piece)

Lunar meteorite (anorthositic fragmental breccia) 

History: A dark grey, crusted stone weighing 34.05 g was found in the Dhofar region of Oman. Classification and mineralogy (A. Greshake, MNB and M. Kurz, Kurz): meteorite is an anorthositic fragmental breccia consisting of clasts of various lithologies embedded into a glassy, partly devitrified fine-grained matrix; the clast size is generally below 3 mm; vesicles are abundant; feldspar: An96.0-99.3; pyroxene: Fs11.5-35.7Wo8.2-44.9 and olivine: Fa30.6-50.0; augites dominate over Ca-poor pyroxenes and often contain pigeonite exsolution lamellae; accessory phases are Fe-Ni metal and ilmenite; crystalline fragments include microporphyritic impact melt breccias, intersertal impact melt clasts, gabbroic anorthosites, and large feldspar; no mare basalt clasts and no glass spherules have been identified; feldspar generally shows pronounced undulatory extinction and sometimes mosaicism indicating strong shock metamorphism; the meteorite is moderately weathered; gypsum, celestite and calcite occur in cracks and holes; Dhofar 490 may be paired with Dhofar 280 since they were found nearby* and have similar mineralogical characteristics.

Specimens: 7 g and one thin section, MNB; main mass with anonymous finder.

from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 88 (Table 5)

Dhofar 1084

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*fide Siegfried Beutel
Randy Says…

*The reported find locations of Dhofar 490/1084 and Dhofar 081/280/910 are separated by 76 km; the meteorites are not paired.

Compositionally, Dhofar 490/1084 is a typical feldspathic lunar meteorite. My samples of both meteorites are contaminated with terrestrial calcium (calcite, gypsum) to a greater extent than any other lunar meteorite from Oman.

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

Dhofar 490 | 1084

Map

Schematic Map of  Find Locations of  Lunar Meteorite from Oman

References

Fritz J. (2012) Impact ejection of lunar meteorites and the age of Giordano Bruno. Icarus 221, 1183-1186.

Korotev R. L. (2005) Lunar geochemistry as told by lunar meteorites. Chemie der Erde 65, 297-346.

Korotev R. L. (2006) New geochemical data for a some poorly characterized lunar meteorites. Lunar and Planetary Science XXVII, abstract no. 1404.

Korotev R. L. (2011) Lunar meteorites from Antarctica and Oman. 74th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, abstract no. 5073.

Korotev R. L. (2012) Lunar meteorites from Oman. Meteoritics & Planetary Science 47, 1365-1402.

Korotev R. L. (2017) Update (2012–2017) on lunar meteorites from Oman. Meteoritics & Planetary Science 52, 1251-1256.

All Korotev data on Omani lunar meteorites.

Korotev R. L., Irving A. J., and Bunch T. E. (2008) Keeping up with the lunar meteorites – 2008. Lunar and Planetary Science XXXIX, abstract no. 1209, 39th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.

Nishiizumi K. and Caffee M. W. (2006) Constraining the number of lunar and martian meteorite falls. 69th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, abstract no. 5368.

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