Lunar Meteorite: Northwest Africa 15952

from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 112

Northwest Africa 15952 (NWA 15952)

(Northwestern Africa)
Purchased: 2023 February
Mass: 68 g (1 piece)

Lunar meteorite (basalt)

History: Purchased by Ben Hoefnagels in February 2023 from a dealer in Tagounite, Morocco.

Physical Characteristics: A single dark brown stone (68 g) mostly coated by degraded fusion crust. The fresh interior is pale brownish gray with some small dark melt pockets visible.

Petrography: (A. Irving, UWS, and P. Carpenter, WUSL) Subophitic texture. Composed predominantly of zoned prismatic clinopyroxene grains (up to 2.4 mm long) and acicular laths of Fe-bearing maskelynite along with accessory fayalite, pyrrhotite, ulvöspinel, chromite (with variable Ti content) and submicron grains of ilmenite, chlorapatite and baddeleyite. There are sporadic melt pockets composed of vesicular glass (comingled orange and brown in thin section with a “swirly” texture) and some cross-cutting thin veinlets of dark shock melt.

Geochemistry: Pigeonite core (Fs_37.0Wo_12.1, FeO/MnO = 56), subcalcic augite cores (Fs_27.5-37.4Wo_24.2-29.7, FeO/MnO = 50-59, N = 2), ferropigeonite rims (Fs_80.5-84.2Wo_13.7-15.2, FeO/MnO = 79-86, N = 2), ferroan subcalcic augite rim (Fs_73.8Wo_24.3, FeO/MnO = 81), Fe-bearing maskelynite (An_86.9-91.5Or_0.3-1.6, N = 3), fayalite (Fa_99.4, FeO/MnO = 91).

Classification: Lunar (mare basalt).

Specimens: 14.1 g including one polished thin section at UWB; remainder with Mr. B. Hoefnagels.

Randy Says…

I have not studied Northwest Africa 15952. On the basis of the description, this meteorite is not self-evidently paired with any other NWA mare basalt.

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

NWA 15952