Lunar Meteorite: Northwest Africa 14005

Northwest Africa 14005 (NWA 14005)

Algeria
Find: 2020
Mass: 15 g (3 pieces)

Classification: Lunar meteorite (feldspathic breccia)

History: Acquired in 2020 by Jose Garcia from Khaled Zed, who had previously found the sample in Algeria.

Physical characteristics: Single stone, gray in color, covered by desert varnish. It retains a small part of the eroded fusion crust. The interior is composed of light and dark clasts, with visible shock melt veins present throughout the matrix.

Petrography: (Jose Garcia, MCM; D. Sheikh, Cascadia) This specimen is a breccia composed predominantly of sub-angular to sub-rounded anorthitic clasts (up to ~1.5 mm) and isolated mineral fragments of olivine and pyroxene set in a fine-grained matrix that contains interconnected areas of shock melt veins and trace amounts of ilmenite and troilite. Estimated modal abundances: Anorthitic plagioclase (90%), Olivine (3%), Pyroxene (3%), Shock melt veins (3%), Opaques (1%).

Geochemistry: (D. Sheikh, Cascadia) Olivine (Fa_33.9±3.5, range Fa_30.9-37.8, Fe/Mn=72±4, n=5), Low-Ca Pyroxene (Fs_42.1±1.5Wo_0.8±0.1, range Fs_41.0-43.2Wo_0.7-0.8, Fe/Mn=50±4, n=2), Pigeonite (Fs_28.7±3.2Wo_17.7±2.7, range Fs_23.4-35.2Wo_14.9-21.9, Fe/Mn=53±5, n=10), Augite (Fs_21.0±4.0Wo_32.0±4.6, range Fs_16.9-24.8Wo_27.9-37.0, Fe/Mn=53±6, n=3), Plagioclase (An_96.0±0.5, range An_94.8-97.0, n=36).

Classification: Lunar (feldspathic breccia).

Specimens: 3.04 g and a thin section at Cascadia; main mass (11.8 g) with Jose Garcia at MCM.

Randy Says…

I have not studied NWA 14005.

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

NWA 14005