Lunar Meteorite: Northwest Africa 17295
from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 114 Northwest Africa 17295 (NWA 17295)(Northwestern Africa) Lunar meteorite (troctolitic anorthosite melt breccia) History: Purchased by Jay Piatek from a Northwest African meteorite dealer in August 2024. Physical Characteristics: Single stone with a shape resembling a tetrahedral pyramid. Dark colored exterior with a sandblasted surface, some vesicles and white feldspar crystals are visible. A polished saw cut surface reveals numerous islands of anorthosite crystals and clasts set in a shock-darkened groundmass. Petrography: (C. Agee, UNM) Electron microprobe analysis and reflected light microscopy of a polished mount show this meteorite to be a troctolitic anorthosite melt breccia consisting of anorthosite clasts, some up to 1-cm in diameter, surrounded by plagioclase-rich melt host lithology that poikilitically encloses fine-grained olivine and clinopyroxene grains 5-20 μm in size. Together, the olivine and clinopyroxene make up less than 10% of the modal mineralogy and anorthite makes up >90% of the modal mineralogy. The olivine to clinopyroxene ratio is approximately 2:1. Many vesicles are scattered throughout. Geochemistry: (M. Spilde, UNM) Olivine Fa37.8±3.0, Fe/Mn=97±11, n=4; clinopyroxene Fs21.0±2.7Wo22.9±8.4, Fe/Mn=43±3, n=4; plagioclase An96.1±1.0, n=3. Classification: Lunar (troctolitic anorthosite melt breccia), nomenclature based on figure 1 in Stoeffler et al. (1980). Specimens: 115 g plus a probe mount on deposit at UNM, Jay Piatek holds the main mass. |
Randy Says… I have not studied Northwest Africa 17295. |
More InformationMeteoritical Bulletin Database NWA 17295 |