Lunar Meteorite: Northwest Africa 13484

NWA 8046-clan pair?

Left: The entire lot of NWA 13484. Right: The largest stone. Image credit: Fabrice Kessler
Exposed interior of the largest stone. Image credit: Fabrice Kessler

from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 109

Northwest Africa 13484 (NWA 13484)

(Northwest Africa)
Find: 2017
Mass: 240 g (many pieces)

Classification: Lunar meteorite (feldspathic breccia)

Physical characteristics: Greyish fragments.

Petrography: (J. Gattacceca, CEREGE) Brecciated igneous rock with fractured mineral clasts to 300 μm set in a glassy mesostasis of feldspathic composition. The mesostasis has abundant ~20 μm vesicles. FeNi metal is present as ~10 μm grains.

Geochemistry: Olivine Fa32.9, FeO/MnO = 144 (n=1). Pyroxene: low-Ca pyroxene Fs23.7Wo5.5(n=2), Ca-pyroxene Fs22.1Wo33.8 (n=1), FeO/MnO = 50.3±5.7 (n=3). Mesostasis An94.9Ab4.9Or0.2(n=3).

Classification: Achondrite (lunar, feldspathic breccia)

Specimens: Type specimen at CEREGE. Main mass with J. Bassemon.

Randy Says…

I have not studied NWA 13484. I suspect that it is another pair of the NWA 8046 clan: No fusion crust, weathered exterior, many pieces, glassy mesostasis, Fa20-40.

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database NWA 13484
Lunar Meteorites
List – ABC123 Order
List – Al2O3 Order