Lunar Meteorite: Northwest Africa 16372

Slice of Northwest Africa 16372 showing impact melt (dark) and vesicles. Photo credit: Carl Agee

from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 113

Northwest Africa 16372 (NWA 16372)

(Northwestern Africa)
Purchased: 2023
Mass: 1200 g (1 piece)

Lunar meteorite (troctolitic anorthosite)

History: Purchased in 2023 by Mark Lyon and Jason Bliss.

Physical Characteristics: Desert weathered exterior. Sawcut surfaces show a breccia with gray-green clasts bounded by dark colored shock melt.

Petrography: (C. Agee, UNM) This meteorite is a brecciated anorthositic troctolite (Prinz and Keil, 1977) with plagioclase (~90%), olivine (~5%), and augite (~1%), and minor amounts of taenite, kamacite, and troilite. Shock melt veins are present.

Geochemistry: (M. Spilde, UNM) Plagioclase An96.8±0.9, n=3; olivine Fa23.6±1.6, Fe/Mn=92±6, n=4; augite Fs19.3±3.2Wo34.6±2.9, Fe/Mn=49±4, n=4.

Classification: Lunar (troctolitic anorthosite) based on Stoeffler et al. (1980). Brecciated.

Specimens: 29.4 g on deposit at UNM, Mark Lyon and Jason Bliss hold the main mass.

Randy Says…

I have not studied Northwest Africa 16372.

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

NWA 16372

Lunar Meteorites
List – ABC123 Order
List – Al2O3 Order