Lunar Meteorite: Northwest Africa 16660

from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 113

Northwest Africa 16660 (NWA 16660)

(Northwestern Africa)
Purchased: 2022 March
Mass: 226 g (1 piece)

Lunar meteorite (feldspathic breccia)

History: Purchased in March 2022 by Jasper Spencer from a meteorite dealer in Morocco.

Petrography: (N. V. Almeida, NHM; K. H. Joy, UMan) Feldspathic clast-bearing impact melt breccia with clasts up to ~2 mm in diameter sited in a fine-grained recrystallised and glassy matrix. Clasts include monomineralic fragments (plagioclase, olivine, orthopyroxene), melt rocks and melt breccias, and anorthositic material, along with minor occurrences of magnesian noritic clasts. Minor mineral phases include Cr-spinels and Fe-Ni-metal. Calcium carbonate and sulphate veining and pockets occur across the section.

Geochemistry: (N. V. Almeida, NHM; and K. H. Joy, UMan) Mineral composition and geochemistry: All analyses by EPMA. Olivine: Fa_26.5±3.9, Fe/Mn=98.9±6.8 (N=14). Pyroxene: Fs_23.2±0.9En_72.8±1.9Wo_4.0±1.1, Fe/Mn=61.1±7.0 (N=7). Plagioclase: An_95.9±0.6Ab_3.7±0.6Or_0.3±0.2 (N=25).

Classification: Lunar meteorite (feldspathic melt breccia).

Specimens: 31.35 g held at the NHM; main mass with Jasper Spencer.

Randy Says…

I have not studied Northwest Africa 16660.

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

NWA 16660