Lunar Meteorite: Northwest 14137, 14526, and 14992
Pairing not established. I am putting these meteorites on the same page for easy comparison of the descriptions.




More photos of NWA 14992 at Meteorite Picture of the Day
from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 110 Northwest Africa 14137 (NWA 14137)(Northwestern Africa) Lunar meteorite (basalt) History: Reportedly found in 2021 and purchased by Doug Chenin in 2021 from a meteorite dealer in Mauritania. Physical characteristics: Single stone, with smooth to irregular exterior surface, no fusion crust present, and numerous vesicles pits visible in hand sample. Polished saw cuts reveal a fine-grained mix of dark-gray and light-brown grains, many dark shock melt pockets present. Unbrecciated. Petrography: (C. Agee, UNM) Backscattered electron images shown igneous-zoned olivines and pyroxenes. Maskelynite makes up approximately 25% of the modal mineralogy, ubiquitous acicular ilmenite ~5%, minor ulvospinel, troilite, chromite and silica observed. Quench melt pockets are present throughout. Geochemistry: (A. Ross and C. Agee, UNM) Olivine Fa57.7±21.1, Fe/Mn=99±4, n=9; clinopyroxene Fs46.1±19.2Wo25.1±5.6, Fe/Mn=64±12, n=12;, maskelynite An88.5±0.8Ab11.0±0.8, n=6. Quench melt SiO2=43.7±0.7, TiO2=4.1±0.3, Cr2O3=0.24±0.08, Al2O3=10.1±1.2, MgO=5.9±1.6, FeO=22.2±1.0, MnO=0.28±0.02, CaO=10.7±0.5, Na2O=0.42±0.16, K2O=0.12±0.05 (all wt%, 30 μm defocused beam), n=8. Clinopyroxene shows Fe-enrichment trends that are continuous from Mg-augite and Mg-pigeonite to subcalcic-ferroaugite/ferropigeonite. Classification: Lunar (mare basalt). Based on the TiO2 content of quench melt this is meteorite transitional between low-Ti and intermediate-Ti mare basalt (Giguere et al. 2000). Specimens: 15.9 g including a probe mount on deposit at UNM, DChenin holds the main mass. |
from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 110 Northwest Africa 14526 (NWA 14526)(Northwestern Africa) Lunar meteorite (basalt) History: Found in northwest Africa, purchased by Luc Labenne from meteorite dealer in 2021. Physical characteristics: Single stone, with smooth to irregular exterior surface, no fusion crust present, and numerous vesicles pits visible in hand sample. Polished saw cuts reveal a fine-grained mix of dark-gray and light-brown grains, many dark shock melt pockets present. Unbrecciated. Petrography: Single stone with a smooth to irregular exterior surface with indentations resembling large vesicles; patches of sandblasted fusion crust were also observed. Freshly broken surface reveals a fine-grained mix of dark gray and light brown grains, shiny maskelynite patches are present. Unbrecciated. Geochemistry: (A. Ross and C. Agee, UNM) Olivine Fa60.6±15.3, Fe/Mn=104±5, n=10; clinopyroxene Fs36.3±9.3Wo16.8±7.9, Fe/Mn=60±7, n=19; maskelynite An85.8±5.6Ab13.6±5.6, n=6. Quench melt SiO2=44.4±0.4, TiO2=2.7±0.2, Cr2O3=0.46±0.01, Al2O3=8.3±0.7, MgO=10.7±0.6, FeO=24.5±0.8, MnO=0.30±0.02, CaO=8.8±0.3, Na2O=0.30±0.04, K2O=0.13±0.04 (all wt%, 30 micron defocused beam), n=4. Clinopyroxene shows Fe-enrichment trends that are continuous from Mg-augite and Mg-pigeonite to subcalcic-ferroaugite. Classification: Lunar (mare basalt). Based on the TiO2 content of quench melt this is meteorite is a low-Ti mare basalt (Giguere et al., 2000). Specimens: 20 g including a probe mount on deposit at UNM, Labenne holds the main mass. |
from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 111 Northwest Africa 14992 (NWA 14992)(Northwestern Africa) Lunar meteorite (basalt) History: Reportedly found in 2021 and purchased by Ziyao Wang in 2022 from a meteorite dealer in Mauritania. Physical Characteristics: Single stone with irregular brown exterior surface, no fusion crust present. Fresh broken surface shows a fine-grained mix of gray and light brown grains, with abundant shiny fine grained maskelynite, and some small dark shock melt veins. Unbrecciated. Petrography: (C. Agee, UNM) Backscatter electron and reflected light microscope images show igneous-zoned olivines and pyroxenes. The modal abundance ration of olivine to pyroxene is approximately 1:3. Maskelynite makes up approximately 25% of the modal mineralogy. Minor phases include Ti-Cr spinel, Ti-magnetite, ilmenite, troilite, taenite, and kamacite. A prominent shock melt vein was present in the deposit sample microprobe mount. Geochemistry: (A. Ross and C. Agee, UNM) Olivine Fa53.7±10.1, Fe/Mn=103±10, n=10; clinopyroxene Fs40.2±12.4Wo23.7±7.1, Fe/Mn=64±8, n=20; maskelynite An88.0±2.1Ab11.5±1.9, n=7. Quench melt SiO2=44.0±0.6, TiO2=2.0±0.1, Cr2O3=0.48±0.04, Al2O3=10.5±1.8, MgO=8.0±0.7, FeO=20.8±1.3, MnO=0.24±0.03, CaO=10.6±0.4, Na2O=0.45±0.05, (all wt%, 30 micron defocused beam), n=4. Clinopyroxene shows Fe-enrichment trends that are continuous from Mg-augite and Mg-pigeonite to subcalcic-ferroaugite/ferropigeonite. Classification: Lunar (mare basalt). Based on the TiO2 content of quench melt this is meteorite is a low-Ti mare basalt (Giguere et al. 2000). Specimens: 21 g including a probe mount on deposit at UNM, WangZ holds the main mass. |
Randy Says… I have not studied these meteorites. I am putting them on the same page so that others can compare the descriptions, which I find to be similar. It is significant, however, that the classifiers do not make this suggestion as they’ve seen all 3 rocks, so maybe I’m overlooking something important. I am not too concerned about the differences in TiO2 in the quench melt. These rock need further study. |
More InformationMeteoritical Bulletin Database References Giguere T. A., Taylor G. J., Hawke B. R., abd Lucey P. G. (2000) The titanium contents of lunar mare basalts. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 35, 193-200. |