Lunar Meteorite: Northwest Africa 10665

Two sawn faces of Northwest Africa 10665. Photo credit: Fabien Kuntz and Pierre-Marie Pelé
Lab sample of NWA 10665. Photo credit: Randy Korotev
from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 105

Northwest Africa 10665 (NWA 10665)

(Northwest Africa)
Purchased: 2016 March
Mass: 24.73 g (1 piece)

Classification: Lunar meteorite (feldspathic breccia)

History: Purchased by Fabien Kuntz in March 2016 from a dealer in Zagora, Morocco.

Physical characteristics: A single dark stone (24.73 g) lacking fusion crust. The fresh interior contains ~30 vol% of white and beige clasts in a fine-grained black matrix.

Petrography: (A. Irving and S. Kuehner, UWS) Relatively fine-grained breccia composed of mineral fragments (anorthite, pigeonite, exsolved pigeonite, olivine, augite, chromite, ilmenite, troilite, kamacite) plus some glass fragments in a finer grained matrix.

Geochemistry: Olivine (Fa7.3; Fa26.7; Fa38.2; FeO/MnO = 74-87, N = 3), orthopyroxene host in exsolved pigeonite (Fs34.3Wo3.2, FeO/MnO = 48), pigeonite (Fs33.0Wo7.2, FeO/MnO = 49), augite (Fs16.3­Wo35.1-37.8; Fs11.0Wo42.3; FeO/MnO = 36-42, N = 3), plagioclase (An96.7-97.3Or0.1, N = 2).

Classification: Lunar (feldspathic breccia).

Specimens: 5.01 g in the form of one polished endcut at PSF; remainder with Kuntz.

Randy Says…

Northwest Africa 10665 is a typical feldspathic lunar meteorite, one compositionally most similar to NWA 7959.

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

NWA 10665

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. 

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