Lunar Meteorite: Reggane 007
from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 113 Reggane 007Algeria Lunar meteorite (anorthositic granulitic breccia) History: A single stone was found in the desert region ~3 km northeast of the town of Sali, Algeria. This stone was purchased from the finder in September 2022 by a meteorite dealer in northwest Africa, who then sold it to another meteorite dealer, who then sold it to Matthew Stream in December 2022. The stone was then subsequently purchased by Jared Collins in February 2023 at the Tucson Gem and Mineral show. Physical Characteristics: Single stone with distinctive tan-brown colored fusion crust. A cut slice from the interior reveals an assortment of many light-colored clasts. Petrography: (D. Sheikh, Cascadia) Sample is a cataclastic breccia comprised of mm to cm-sized sub-angular to rounded lithic clasts set within a dark, fine-grained matrix. Lithic clast lithologies are predominantly clast-bearing granulitic breccias, which are themselves comprised of sub-mm to mm-sized sub-angular to rounded relict lithic (anorthosites, gabbroic anorthosites, gabbros) and mineral (plagioclase, olivine, pigeonite, low-Ca pyroxene, high-Ca pyroxene) clasts set within a fine-grained, metamorphosed matrix displaying a granoblastic texture comprised of anhedral olivine and pyroxene grains (<10 μm) set between larger (<100 μm) plagioclase grains (generally forming triple junctions at ~120° angles). Several relict mineral clasts within the granulitic breccia clasts preserve primary igneous zoning (e.g. slightly zoned olivine/low-Ca pyroxene, irregularly zoned high-Ca pyroxene), others display scalloped edges and thin reaction rims indicating reaction with the granoblastic matrix. Plagioclase in this sample is partially converted to maskelynite. Accessory phases identified include Ca-phosphates, chromite, ilmenite, Fe-Ni metal, and troilite. Geochemistry: Olivine (Fa41.1±1.3, range Fa38.2-42.1, Fe/Mn = 96±6, Mg# = 59±1, n=8), Low-Ca Pyroxene (Fs24.8±6.7Wo4.4±0.1, range Fs15.7-30.1Wo4.3-4.5, Fe/Mn = 57±3, Mg# = 74±7, n=4), Pigeonite (Fs32.9±1.4Wo10.1±2.4, range Fs31.0-36.4Wo5.8-14.7, Fe/Mn = 52±3, Mg# = 63±1, n=14), High-Ca Pyroxene (Fs20.2±5.3Wo38.4±3.2, range Fs15.5-33.8Wo32.3-42.8, Fe/Mn = 50±8, Mg# = 67±7, n=9), Calcic Plagioclase (An96.8±0.8, range An95.0-97.8, n=24). Classification: Lunar (anorthositic granulitic breccia, cataclastic). Granulitic breccia clasts (Stöffler et al., 1980) are mostly comprised of plagioclase/maskelynite (>90 % in granoblastic matrix, >85 % when combining relict lithic/mineral clasts + granoblastic matrix) and are primarily ferroan in composition (Cushing et al., 1999; Pernet-Fischer and Joy, 2022) based on mineral compositions (olivine Mg#, low-Ca/pigeonite/high-Ca pyroxene Mg#, plagioclase An#), indicating a protolith comprised mostly of ferroan anorthosite (FAN) materials. Specimens: 17.9 g at Cascadia, main mass with Jared Collins. |
Randy Says… I have not studied Reggane 007. |
More InformationMeteoritical Bulletin Database Reggane 007 |