Lunar Meteorite: Northwest Africa 13216

from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 109

Northwest Africa 13216 (NWA 13216)

northwestern Africa
Purchase: 2019 October
Mass: 100.15 g (18 pieces)

Classification: Lunar Meteorite (feldspathic breccia)

History: Purchased from Morocco October 2019.

Physical characteristics: Eighteen identical appearing pieces. No fusion crust, desert weathered exteriors.

Petrography: (C. Agee, UNM) EPMA images show fragmental breccia of differing grain-size scales. The groundmass is extremely fine-grained with multiple lithologies and single-phase fragments of olivine, pyroxene, and plagioclase. Chromite, spinel, silica, and shock melt were observed.

Geochemistry: (C. Agee, UNM) Olivine Fa_31.5±8.8, Fe/Mn=95±12, n=12; pigeonite Fs_36.0±13.7Wo_11.9±9.6, Fe/Mn=63±13, n=12; plagioclase An_96.2±1.2, n=6; shock melt (proxy for bulk composition) SiO₂=43.6, TiO₂=0.38, Al₂O₃=28.5, MgO=6.4, FeO=4.6, MnO=0.07, CaO=15.6, Na₂O=0.09 (wt%).

Classification: Lunar, feldspathic breccia

Specimens: 20.4 g on deposit at UNM, Larry Atkins holds the main mass.

Randy Says…

I have not studied 13216. It may be another stone of the NWA 8046 clan.

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

NWA 13216