Lunar Meteorite: Grove Mountains 150357

Two sides of Grove Mountains 150357. It appears to have no fusion crust. Image credit: Bingkui Miao and Zhipeng Xia.

from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 111

Grove Mountains 150357 (GRV 150357)

Antarctica
Find: 2015 December 29
Mass: 11.73 g (1 piece)

Lunar meteorite (polymict breccia)

History: During 2015/2016 field season, this sample ([one among] 665 [meteorites] in total) was collected by the 32nd CHINARE in Grove Mountains, East Antarctica.

Physical Characteristics: A single stone. The fresh interior exhibits some lighter colored clasts within a dominant black matrix.

Petrography: Petrology (Z. Xia, B. Miao, GUT [College of Earth Sciences, Guilin University of Technology, China]): The polished thin section of this meteorite shows a distinct breccia texture, with many lithic clasts and mineral fragments embedded in the heterogeneous glassy matrix contaning fine-grained minerals. The lithic clasts includes crystalline impact melt, basalt, anorthosite, troctolite, norite/gabbro, symplectite (hedenbergite+fayalite+quartz), etc. Dominant mineral fragments are plagioclase, olivine and pyroxene. The pyroxene fragments with exsolution is common. Accessory phases are ilmenite, chromite, spinel, troilite and quartz.

Geochemistry: (Z. Xia, B. Miao, GUT): Heterogeneous glassy matrix: Al2O3: 12.5-28.77 wt% (avg. 22.4 wt%), MgO: 7.82-16.39 wt% (avg. 12.1 wt%), FeO:3.79-22.54 wt% (avg.14.3 wt%) (n=15). Plagioclase in basaltic clast: An92.5-94.3 (n=3). Plagioclase in anorthositic clast, An95.2-97.3 (n=7). Olivine fragments: Fo41.4-53.5 (Fe/Mn=77-94, n=13). Low-Ca pyroxene Fs32.7-48.9Wo1.9-14.9 (Fe/Mn=50-64, n=13) with exsolution lamellae of high-Ca?pyroxene Fs19.5-36.6Wo20.6-41.9 (Fe/Mn=45-59, n=9). Symplectite: hedenbergite Fs44.2Wo41.0; fayalite Fs89.1.

Classification: Lunar (polymict breccia).

Specimens: The main mass and one polished thin section are on deposited at Polar Research Institute of China.

Randy Says…

This is the first lunar meteorite to be recognized among the Chinese collection from the Grove Mountains, Antarctica.

The location of the Grove Mountains is labeled (but not legible!) at 12:00 position on this map. Meteorites from the U.S. (ANSMET) collection are from along the Transantarctic Mountains at the 3:00 position. Image credit: Google Earth and U. S. Geological Survey.
Enlargement of the Grove Mountains region with location of the lunar meteorite.
In Antarctica, meteorites are not found on snow but in regions of “blue ice.” See 5 km scale bar at bottom right.

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

Grove Mountains 150357
Lunar Meteorites
List – ABC123 Order
List – Al2O3 Order