Lunar Meteorite: Miller Range 05035

Listed in The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 92

from Antarctic Meteorite Newsletter, vol. 29, No. 2, 2006

Miller Range 05035 (MIL 05035)

Miller Range, Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica
Dimensions (cm): 4.5 x 4.0 x 3.5
Found: 2005 December or 2006 January
Weight (g): 142.216 (1 piece)

Lunar-Basalt

Macroscopic Description: Kathleen McBride. The exterior has about 95% black, shiny fusion crust. The interior is pinkish-tan in color with no rusting. The rock is moderately hard and has an unusual granular texture with a vague resemblance to granite. There are numerous inclusions; linear white features a few mm in length, melted appearing black, glassy inclusions with an iridescent “peacock ore” opalescent sheen, a transparent, glass like mineral, and a few clay-like powdery areas.

Thin Section (,2) Description: Tim McCoy. The section exhibits a n unbrecciated texture of coarse-grained (several mm) pyroxene and maskelynite with interstitial sulfides, iron-titanium oxides, intergrowths of fayalite-silicate-augite, and other late-stage glasses and minerals (including BaO-enriched potassium feldspar). Pyroxenes are strongly zoned and include pigeonites and augites with a range of compositions Fs_31-55Wo_15-42 and Fe/Mn of ~60. Plagioclase is An_83-92Or_0-2. The meteorite is a lunar basalt, although it exhibits some properties (e.g., maskelynite) unusual among known lunar samples.

Randy Says…

MIL 05035 is an unbrecciated basalt that is unlike any basalt from the Apollo or Luna missions.  It is compositionally and mineralogically very similar to Asuka 881757 and Yamato 793169, however. All three were likely launched from the same crater on the Moon, probably along with breccia MET 01210. Ramlat Fasad 532 (Oman) appears to be another member of the launch pair group.

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

MIL 05035

Map

ANSMET Location Map

References

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Nyquist L. E., Shih C-Y., and Reese Y. D. (2007) Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr ages for MIL 05035: Implications for surface and mantle sources (abstract). In Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVIII, abstract no. 1702, 38th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston.

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