Lunar Meteorite: Northwest Africa 12368

from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 107

Northwest Africa 12368 (NWA 12368)

Mauritania
Purchased: 2018
Mass: 1868 g (1 piece)

Lunar Meteorite (feldspathic breccia)

History: Found in the spring of 2017 in the Moroccan Sahara and purchased in Temara by A. Aaronson on July 23, 2018.

Physical characteristics: Single complete stone, no fusion crust; saw cut reveals a fragmental breccia with scattered white feldspathic and mafic clasts set in a dark-gray groundmass.

Petrography: (C. Agee, UNM) This meteorite consists primarily of fragmental pyroxene, olivine, feldspathic and mafic clasts, and shock melt. Ubiquitous Fe-Ti-Cr-Al oxides are present, rare kamacite was detected. There appears to be 2 or 3 distinct populations of pyroxenes and olivines, suggesting that this is a polymict breccia.

Geochemistry: (C. Agee, UNM) olivine Fa_53.3±11.8, Fe/Mn=96±7, n=7; fayalite Fa_91.8±2.9, Fe/Mn=91±8, n=3; pigeonite Fs_26.0±1.3Wo_6.4±1.3, Fe/Mn=51±3, n=7; subcalcic augite Fs_38.3±3.2Wo_24.2±4.3, Fe/Mn=57±3, n=2; ferro-augite Fs_63.9±4.3Wo_30.4±7.6, Fe/Mn=92±21, n=2; plagioclase An_95.5±1.4, n=6; Shock melt (20 µm defocused electron beam, proxy for bulk meteorite composition): SiO₂=44.6±1.5, TiO₂=0.18±0.13, Al₂O₃=28.8±4.2, Cr₂O₃=0.11±0.14, MgO=4.1±1.8, FeO=4.2±2.1, MnO=0.07±0.03, CaO=16.8±1.9, NiO=0.02±0.02, Na₂O=0.54±0.14, K₂O=0.06±0.04 (all wt%), n=3.

Classification: Lunar feldspathic breccia

Specimens: 20.6 g including a probe mount on deposit at UNM, Adam Aaronson holds the main mass.

Randy Says…

I have not studied Northwest Africa 12368.

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

NWA 12368