Lunar Meteorite: Northwest Africa 11523

from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 106

Northwest Africa 11523 (NWA 11523)

(northwestern Africa)
Purchased: 2017 March
Mass: 3362 g (1 piece)

Lunar meteorite (feldspathic breccia)

History: Purchased in March 2017 from Aziz Habibi in Erfoud, Morocco. 

Physical characteristics: Single stone. A saw cut reveals a breccia dominated by white feldspathic clasts set in a dark-gray groundmass, some desert caliche is present along cracks. 

Petrography: (C. Agee, UNM) Microprobe examination shows fragmental breccia of olivine, pyroxene, and plagioclase. Melt veins and vesicles are present throughout. Augite and pigeonite show subparallel iron-enrichment trends. There appears to be only one population of augite and pigeonite pairs suggesting that this is a monomict breccia. Plagioclase is uniform in composition at 98.5±0.2% anorthite. Ubiquitous minor ilmenite, chromite, and Fe-Ni metal were observed.

Geochemistry: (C. Agee, UNM) Olivine Fa_26.2±7.1, Fe/Mn=89±5, n=9; pigeonite Fs_32.6±5.5Wo_6.5±4.1, Fe/Mn=60±5, n=8; augite Fs_26.6±8.6Wo_36.4±4.6, Fe/Mn=55±8, n=8; plagioclase An_98.5±0.2Ab_1.4±0.2Or_0.1±0.0, n=8; shock melt vein (proxy for bulk composition) SiO₂=43.3±0.7, TiO₂=0.16±0.03, Cr₂O₃=0.10±0.05, Al₂O₃=25.9±3.6, MgO=8.7±4.2, FeO=6.0±2.3, MnO=0.07±0.02, CaO=15.0±2.1, Na₂O=0.30±0.07, K₂O=0.03±0.01 (all wt%), n=5.

Classification: Lunar, monomict feldspathic breccia

Specimens: 20.6 g on deposit at UNM, DPitt holds the main mass.

Randy Says…

I have not studied Northwest Africa 11523.

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

NWA 11523