Lunar Meteorite: Kalahari 008 & 009

From The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 89

Kalahari 008

Kalahari, Botswana
Found: 1999 September
Mass: 598 g (1 piece)

Lunar meteorite (feldspathic regolith breccia)

A single stone of 598 g was found in September 1999 by an anonymous finder in front of a sand dune within the Kalahari desert. The rock is an anorthositic breccia having typical clasts of lunar highland breccias (e.g., feldspathic crystalline melt breccias, granulitic lithologies, cataclastic anorthosites etc.) embedded within a well-lithified matrix. An impact melt spherule indicates that this rock derives from the regolith. The regolith origin is also supported by the finding of solar wind implanted rare gases (L. Schultz, Mainz).

Classification and mineralogy (Anna Sokol and Addi Bischoff, Mün): olivine, Fa_63±18; pyroxene Fs_42±10; plagioclase An_85-98. The shock stage of the rock is S4, the weathering grade is W1. Oxygen isotopic composition: δ¹⁸O = +6.52;δ¹⁷O = +3.32; Δ = -0.07‰ (R. N. Clayton, UChic);

Concentrations of selected elements (XRF or INAA; H. Palme, G. Weckwerth, Köln) in wt.%: Al: 14.68; Si: 20.73; Mg: 2.68; Fe: 3.5; Ca: 11.1.

Specimen: Type specimen, 20g and polished thin section, Mün; main mass, anonymous finder.

From The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 89

Kalahari 009

Kalahari, Botswana
Found: 1999 September
Mass: 13,500 g

Lunar meteorite (basaltic fragmental breccia)

A single stone of about 13.5 kg was found in September 1999 by an anonymous finder in front of a sand dune within the Kalahari desert, roughly 50 m apart from Kalahari 008. The rock is different from the Kalahari 008 anorthositic breccia. It has a heavily brecciated texture and is basaltic in composition. The sample does not contain solar wind implanted rare gases (L. Schultz, Mainz).

Classification and mineralogy (Anna Sokol and Addi Bischoff, Mün): olivine, Fa_50-99.9 (mostly Fa_80-95); pyroxene is highly variable (Fs_22-67 En_10-64 Wo_6-41); plagioclase An_86-96 (very few plagioclase have more albitic composition, An_70-80). The shock stage of the rock is S4; the weathering grade is W1; however, calcite veins are present.

Oxygen isotopic composition: δ¹⁸O = +6.87‰; δ¹⁷O = +3.45‰ (R. N. Clayton, UChi);

Concentrations of selected elements (XRF or INAA; H. Palme, G. Weckwerth, Köln; Münker, Mün) in wt.%: Al: 6.76; Mg: 5.14; Fe: 12.47; Ca: 7.66. Zr/Hf = 30.2 and Nd/Ta= 17.4.

Specimens: Type specimen, 20 g and polished thin section, Mün; main mass, anonymous finder.

Randy Says…

Kalahari 008/009 is a unique, if not bizarre, meteorite.

It is the only lunar meteorite from Botswana. The two stones are reported to have been found 50 meters apart.

Cosmic-ray exposure data support the hypothesis that the stones are paired. Their trip from the Moon to the Earth is the shortest ever measured in a lunar meteorite, 230 ± 90 years (Sokol et al., 2008).

As rocks, the two stones are totally different. Kalahari 008 is a feldspathic breccia (4.7 % FeO) with little or no evidence for a component of clastic basalt. Kalahari 009 is described as a brecciated “basalt” (monomict, 16.4% FeO) with no petrographic evidence for a component of clastic anorthosite. As a lunar “basalt,” Kalahari 009 is unique in having very low concentrations of incompatible elements.

There is some subtle compositional evidence, however, that the two stones are “related.” Both have unusually high Na/Eu. I suspect that the basaltic breccia, Kalahari 009, is not a brecciated mare basalt but an impact-melt rock composed of a 1:3 mixture of Kalahari 008 and an ancient (Snape et al., 2008), unusual (nonmare?) basalt (Korotev and Irving, 2021).

If someone had walked into my office with Kalahari 009, I would likely have told them that it was not a meteorite. It just does not look like a meteorite.

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

Kalahari 008 | 009

References

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Calzada-Diaz A., Joy K. H., Crawford I. A., and Nordheim T. A. (2015) Constraining the source regions of lunar meteorites using orbital geochemical data. Meteoritics & Planetary Science 50, 214-228.

Calzada-Diaz A., Joy K. H., and Crawford I. A. (2016) Investigation of lunar meteorites potentially sourced from cryptomare regions. 47th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, abstract no. 2075.

Cohen B. A. (2005) More impact-melt clasts in feldspathic lunar meteorites. 68th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, abstract no. 5314.

Cohen B. A. (2008) Lunar meteorite impact melt clasts and lessons learned for lunar surface sampling. Lunar and Planetary Science XXXIX, abstract no. 2532.

Fernandes V.A., Burgess R., Bischoff A., Sokol A. K., and Haloda J. (2007) Kalahari 009 and North East Africa 003: Young (<2.5 ga) lunar mare basalts. Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVIII, abstract no. 1611.

Fernandes V.A., Sokol A., Burgess R., Bischoff A., Schultz T., Münker C. (2007) Kalahari 009: One of the oldest lunar mare basalts – Chronology, chemical and petrological composition, and source region. American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2007, abstract id. V23B-1441.

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. and Irving A. J. (2021) Lunar meteorites from northern Africa. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 206–240. 

Korotev R. L. (2017) Is lunar meteorite Kalahari 009 brecciated nonmare basalt or impact melt? 80th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, abstract no. 6034.

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.

Korotev R. L, Zeigler R. A., Jolliff B. L., Irving A. J., and Bunch T. E. (2009) Compositional and lithological diversity among brecciated lunar meteorites of intermediate iron composition. Meteoritics & Planetary Science 44, 1287-1322.

Nishiizumi K., Welten K. C., and Bischoff A. (2005) Kalahari 008/009 – The shortest exposure age of all meteorites. 68th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, abstract no. 5270.

Schulz T., Sokol A. K., Palme H., Weckwerth G., Münker C., and Bischoff A. (2007) Chemical composition and Lu-Hf age of the lunar mare basalt meteorite Kalahari 009. 70th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, abstract no. 5151.

Shih C.-Y., Nyquist L. E., Reese Y. D., and Bischoff A. (2008) Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr isotopic studies of meteorite Kalahari 009: An old VLT mare basalt. Lunar and Planetary Science XXXIX, abstract no. 2165.

Snape J. F., Curran N. M., Whitehouse M. J., Nemchin A. A, Joy K. H., Hopkinson T., Anand M., Bellucci J. J., Kenny G. G. (2018) Ancient volcanism on the Moon: Insights from Pb isotopes in the MIL 13317 and Kalahari 009 lunar meteorites. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 502, 84-95.

Sokol A. K. and Bischoff A. (2005) Mineralogy of the Lunar Meteorites Kalahari 008 and Kalahari 009. 68th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, abstract no. 5059.

Sokol A. K., V. A. Fernandes, T. Schulz, A. Bischoff, R. Burgess, R. N. Clayton, C. Münker, K. Nishiizumi, H. Palme, L. Schultz, G. Weckwerth, K. Mezger, and M. Horstmannaan (2008) Geochemistry, petrology and ages of the lunar meteorites Kalahari 008 and 009: New constraints on early lunar evolution. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 72, 4845-4873.

Sokol A. K. and Bischoff A. (2005) Meteorites from Botswana. Meteoritics & Planetary Science 40, Suppl., A177-A184.

Tartese R., Anand M., Joy K. H., Franchi I. A. (2014) H and Cl isotope characteristics of apatite in brecciated lunar meteorites NWA 4472, NWA 773, SaU 169 and Kalahari 009. 77th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, abstract no. 5085.

Terada K., Anand M., Sokol A. K., Bischoff A., and Sano Y. (2007) Cryptomare magmatism 4.35 Gyr ago recorded in lunar meteorite Kalahari 009. Nature 450, 849-853.

Terada K., Sasaki Y., Oka Y., Tanabe A., Fujikawa N., Tanikawa S., Sano Y., Anand M., and Taylor L. A. (2008) Ion microprobe U-Pb dating of phosphates in lunar basaltic meteorites. Lunar and Planetary Science XXXIX, abstract no. 1681.