Lunar Meteorite: Northwest Africa 14526 & 17021
likely pairs
| 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. 110 Northwest Africa 17021 (NWA 17021)(Northwestern Africa) Lunar meteorite (basalt) History: Found in northwest Africa, purchased by Bachir Salek in 2021. Physical characteristics: Fourteen pieces, the largest being 248 g, all with smooth to irregular exterior surfaces 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. Petrography: (C. Agee, UNM) Backscatter electron images shown mm-size patches of igneous-zoned pyroxenes. Olivines are typically smaller grains up to 500 μm. Maskelynite makes up approximately 25% of the modal mineralogy, ubiquitous ilmenite ~3%, minor troilite, chromite and kamacite blebs observed. Quench melt veins are present throughout. Geochemistry: (M. Spilde, UNM) Olivine Fa56.5±12.7, Fe/Mn=100±8, n=7; clinopyroxene Fs39.7±9.8Wo19.5±7.7, Fe/Mn=63±7, n=7; maskelynite An90.0±0.9Ab9.8±0.9, n=4. Clinopyroxene shows Fe-enrichment trends that are continuous from Mg-augite and Mg-pigeonite to subcalcic-ferroaugite. Classification: Lunar (mare basalt). Paired with NWA 14526, similar to Swayyah 001 and Swayyah 004. Specimens: 21.5 g including a probe mount on deposit at UNM, Mark Lyon holds 476 g, Bachir Salek holds the remainder of the total mass. |
Randy Says… I have not studied NWA 14526 or NWA 17021. Li and Jiang (2023): “The preliminary [petrographic] results show that NWA 14526 and NWA 14992 probably belong to a pair of low-titanium mare basalts, and they are closely related to NWA 10597.” NWA 10597 is a pair to NWA 4734. I doubt that NWA 14526 is paired or launch paired with NWA 032/10597, which have distinct fusion crusts (as do their launch pairs, the LAP 02205 clan), while NWA 14526 does not have a fusion crusts |
More InformationMeteoritical Bulletin Database References Li P. and Jiang Y. (2023) Mineral chemistry of two new mare basalts Northwest Africa (NWA) 14526 and NWA 14992. 86th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, abstract no. 6249. |