Lunar Meteorite: Northwest Africa 14258

from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 110

Northwest Africa 14258 (NWA 14258)

(Northwestern Africa)
Purchased: 2021 June
Mass: 668 g (1 piece)

Lunar meteorite (feldspathic breccia)

Physical characteristics: A single stone without fusion crust and some caliche on its surface. The interior appears medium gray with small dark and whitish clasts.

Petrography: (K. Metzler, IfP) Fine-grained polymict achondritic breccia, consisting of small lithic clasts (up to 7 mm) and mineral fragments (mainly plagioclase, olivine, and pyroxene) set in a compacted fine-grained clastic matrix of related debris. The clastic matrix is intermingled with small amounts of crystallized vesicular melt. Lithic clast types: fine-grained subophitic basalt, olivine gabbro, fragment-rich impact melt rock, and impact glass. Accessories are ilmenite, chromite, troilite, and Ni-bearing metallic iron (~Fe93Ni7).

Geochemistry: Mineral compositions and geochemistry: Mean olivine composition: Fa_31.9±7.8 (Fa_21.4-42.6); Fe/Mn (at.): 96.4±23.4 (62-122); n=10. Mean pyroxene composition Fs_23.1±4.3 Wo_4.1±1.2 (Fs_18.0-29.9 Wo_2.6-6.3); Fe/Mn (at.): 55.0±13.2 (42-75); n=6. Plagioclase An_97.0±0.8 (An_95.5-98.1); n=13. Chemistry of an impact glass spherule (wt%): SiO₂=44.3; Al₂O₃=27.4; CaO=16.1; FeO=5.3; MgO=5.1; Na₂O=0.5; TiO₂=0.4; Cr₂O₃=0.2; MnO=0.08.

Classification: Lunar feldspathic breccia.

Specimens: 20 g at Institut für Planetologie, Münster, Germany.

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Meteoritical Bulletin Database

NWA 14258