Lunar Meteorite: Northwest Africa 10626

from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 105

Northwest Africa 10626 (NWA 10626)

(Northwest Africa)
Purchased: 2015 November
Mass: 1849 g (1 piece)

Lunar meteorite (feldspathic breccia)

History: Purchased by Darryl Pitt in October 2015 from a dealer in Erfoud, Morocco.

Physical characteristics: The broken, very fresh specimen (1849 g) lacks fusion crust and consists mainly of small, angular light-colored clasts in a dark gray matrix, but there also are some larger, light gray, basaltic-textured clasts (up to 3.5 cm across).

Petrography: (A. Irving and S. Kuehner, UWS) The predominant portion is a fragmental breccia consisting of mineral clasts of anorthite, pigeonite, exsolved pigeonite, sparse olivine, ilmenite and chromite plus clasts of glass with quenched crystals. One olivine-free basaltic clast has subophitic texture with domains of variable grain size, and is composed of pigeonite, anorthite, subcalcic augite, ilmenite, Ti-Al-chromite, pyrrhotite and minor Ni-free metal; mesostasis regions contain sparse vesicles.

Geochemistry: Olivine (Fa_19.9; Fa_54.4; FeO/MnO = 91-98, N = 2), pigeonite (Fs_39.5Wo_8.2; Fs_36.1Wo_21.4; FeO/MnO = 50-58, N = 2), plagioclase (An_91.0-97.2Or_0.6-0.1, N = 2), pigeonite in basalt clast (Fs_44.3Wo_8.1; Fs_38.6Wo_25.0; FeO/MnO = 50-60, N = 2).

Bulk composition: (R. Korotev, WUSL) INAA of subsamples gave (in wt.%) FeO 5.7, Na₂O 0.34; (in ppm) Sc 12.8, Cr 990, Co 15, La 2.0, Sm 1.0, Eu 0.77, Yb 0.89, Lu 0.13, Hf 0.73, Th 0.30.

Classification: Lunar (feldspathic, basalt-bearing breccia).

Specimens: 29.47 g polished slice at UWB; remainder with DPitt.

Randy Says…

Compositionally, NWA 10626 is a bit more mafic than a typical feldspathic lunar meteorite, probably because of the basalt clasts. The pair is compositionally identical but unnamed for lack of a type specimen.

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

NWA 10626

References

Korotev R. L. and Irving A. J. (2017) Still not keeping up with the lunar meteorites – 2017. Lunar and Planetary Science XLVIII, abstract no. 1498.

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

Warren P. H. and Tang C. P. (2018) A VLT mare basalt clast within highland breccia Northwest Africa 10626. 49th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, abstract no. 2060.