Lunar Meteorite: Northeast Africa 039
| from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 112 Northeast Africa 039 (NEA 039)Libya Lunar meteorite (basalt) History: Found in Libya and purchased by Mark Lyon in March 2023 from a dealer in Zagora, Morocco and now co-owner by Mark Lyon, Steve Jurvetson and Brian Caress. Petrography: (A. Irving, UWS and J. Boesenberg, BrownU) This very fresh specimen has an ophitic igneous texture and is composed of stubby prismatic grains of zoned olivine and pigeonite (mean grainsize ~0.5 mm) and maskelynite laths (up to 1 mm long) together with accessory blade-like ilmenite, chromite, troilite, fayalite and silica polymorph. Shock pockets composed of “swirly-textured” glass (mottled pale orange to beige in thin section and most containing a single large vesicle) plus some thin cross-cutting shock veinlets are present. – zoned olivine and pyx – impact melt with cpx, mottled, swirled, undulatory glassy areas. Geochemistry: Olivine (Fa38.6-45.3, FeO/MnO = 81-106, N = 9), pigeonite (Fs38.1-80.6Wo11.0-22.4, FeO/MnO = 51-85, N = 15), maskelynite (An85.8-87.4Or0.7-0.3, N = 3). Classification: Lunar (mare basalt, unbrecciated). Specimens: 21.4 g including one polished thin section and one polished mount at UWB; remainder held jointly by Mr. M. Lyon, Mr. S. Jurvetson and Mr. B. Caress. |
| Randy Says… I have not studied Northeast Africa 039, a basalt. I have not seen a photo of the rock and there are no compositional data. Boesenberg and Irving (2024) note that petrographically “NEA 039 appears to be remarkably similar to NWA 4734, and to lesser degrees, LAP 02205 (and its pairings) and NWA 032.” |
More InformationMeteoritical Bulletin Database NEA 039 References Boesenberg J. S. and Irving A. J. (2024) Petrology of lunar unbrecciated mare basaltic meteorites Northeast Africa 039 and Northwest Africa 16286. 55th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, abstract no. 1207. |