A Photo Gallery of Lunar Meteorites from Antarctica

The photos below are the best available “whole rock” portraits of lunar meteorites from Antarctica. This page shows what lunar meteorites look like when they are found. Most lunar meteorites from Antarctica have at least some fusion crust. Many to most lunar meteorites from Oman and northern Africa have been exposed to wind and even water over thousands to hundreds of thousand years so the fusion crusts have been weathered and ablated away. The wind is even stronger in Antarctica, but it does not carry as much abrasive dust.

What you are supposed to see – No two lunar meteorites look the same. Lunar meteorites do not have a consistent “look” that make them easy to recognize as lunar meteorites. If a meteorite has a highly frothy and vesicular fusion crust, however, it might be a lunar meteorite, but only if the rock is a regolith breccia.

More photos of most of these meteorites can be seen by clicking on the meteorite name in the figure caption.

Feldspathic (anorthositic) breccias

Most lunar meteorites are impact breccias composed of feldspar-rich (anorthositic) rocks. The light-colored clasts in all the meteorites pictured here are brecciated anorthosites. Note that quartz in terrestrial rocks is often misidentified as anorthosite.

Allan Hills (ALHA) A81005, a regolith breccia, has a partial greenish fusion crust. The crust is somewhat vesicular, which is characteristic of fusion crusts on lunar regolith breccias. Photo credit: NASA/JSC S82-35869
Broken face on Allan Hills A81005. “Flow marks are apparent on the exterior which is covered with a pitted, glassy, greenish-tan colored crust. Immediately underneath this crust, the surface is a “dusty” gray color. The interior consists of abundant angular clasts, which range in color from gray to white, set in a black matrix.” Photo credit: NASA/JSC S82-35865 

Four sides of tiny (1.4 g) Miller Range (MIL) 07006. “The exterior has no fusion crust and consists of a black matrix with visible clasts. The interior is a black matrix with gray, tan and white clasts.” Photo credit NASA/JSC
Two views of Miller Range (MIL) 090034, a fragmental breccia. “35% of the exterior of this sample is covered with a dull olive green fusion crust.” 1-cm cube. Photo credit: NASA/JSC
Two views of Miller Range (MIL) 090070, a fragmental breccia that is paired with MIL 090034. “40% of the exterior of this sample is covered with a shiny olive green fusion crust.” 1-cm cube. Photo credit: NASA/JSC
Two views of Miller Range (MIL) 090075, a fragmental breccia that is paired with MIL 090034. “40% of the exterior of this sample is covered with a shiny olive green fusion crust.” 1-cm cube. Photo credit: NASA/JSC
Two views, with cut faces, of Miller Range (MIL) 090036, a fragmental breccia that is not paired with the other three MIL 0900xx stones. “The exterior of this meteorite is smooth with no obvious fusion crust. There is a thin yellow ochre film on two surfaces, possibly weathered fusion crust.” Cube is 1 cm. Image credit: NASA/JSC
Graves Nunataks (GRA) 06157, a regolith breccia, in the field and in the NASA/JSC lab. “The exterior has no fusion crust and is a gray color with white and cream colored clasts. The interior is a gray matrix with white clasts throughout.” This is the smallest lunar meteorite from Antarctica, 0.79 g. 1-cm cube. Photo credits: NASA/JSC
Larkman Nunataks (LAR) 06638, a regolith breccia, in the NASA-JSC curatorial lab. “The bottom exterior surface has black fusion crust, while the top has a lighter brown crust.” 1-cm cube. Photo credit: NASA/JSC.
MacAlpine Hills (MAC) 88104, a regolith breccia. “Both specimens have thin gray-green fusion crust which covers approximately 30% of the exterior surface. The other exterior surfaces are dark gray and weathered, with numerous clasts and vugs where clasts have been plucked out by weathering.” This photo (scan of a print) has been color-balanced so the near face of the 1-cm cube is neutral gray. Photo credit: NASA/JSC
MacAlpine Hills (MAC) 88105, a regolith breccia that is paired with MAC 88014. “Both specimens have thin gray-green fusion crust which covers approximately 30% of the exterior surface. The other exterior surfaces are dark gray and weathered, with numerous clasts and vugs where clasts have been plucked out by weathering.” This photo (scan of a print) has been color-balanced so the near face of the 1-cm cube is neutral gray. Photo credit: NASA/JSC
Two sides of Queen Alexandra Range (QUE) 93069, a regolith breccia. “Thick gray-green frothy fusion crust covers the top while thin granular medium olive green-brown fusion crust covers the bottom. The north face is a fractured surface with exposed interior matrix and abundant fractures. This surface consists of black matrix with abundant millimeter sized white/ gray clasts. Some clasts have weathered to a yellowish color.” The fusion crust is strikingly vesicular (it has gas bubbles) because the meteorite is a regolith breccia. The fusion crust on feldspathic lunar breccias is lighter in color that that on chondrites and basaltic meteorites. The cube is 1 cm square. Photo credit: NASA/JSC
Two sides of Queen Alexandra Range (QUE) 94269, a regolith breccia that is paired with QUE 93069. The cube is 1 cm square. Photo credit: NASA/JSC
Four sides of Yamato 791197, a regolith breccia. This meteorite has a highly vesicular fusion crust. Photos courtesy of the National Institute of Polar Research, Japan
Three views of Pecora Escarpment (PCA) 02007, a regolith breccia. The frothy, vesicular fusion crust is concentrated on the trailing side. Photo credit: NASA/JSC
Two views of the interior of Yamato 86032, arguably either a fragmental breccia or an impact-melt breccia. No fusion crust is evident on the greenish exterior. The gray material is solidified impact melt. The whitish clasts are brecciated anorthosites. Photo credit: Randy Korotev

Less feldspathic breccias (anorthositic with basalt or norite)

Yamato 983885, a regolith breccia (photo credit: H. Kojima and M. Imae
Miller Range (MIL) 13317, a fragmental breccia. “A patch of glossy black fusion crust covers 25% of the exterior. Areas without fusion crust have a greenish tint with large inclusions visible. Photo credit: NASA/JSC

Basalt-rich breccias

Yamato 793274, a regolith breccia. Most of The white clasts are brecciated anorthosites. Photo credit: Takeda et al., 1991)
Exterior and sawn face of Yamato 981031, a regolith breccia that is paired with Yamato 792374. There are few anorthositic clasts in this breccia. Photo credit: Randy Korotev
Four views of Queen Alexandra Range (QUE) 94281, a tiny (23 g) regolith breccia with a highly vesicular fusion crust. 1-cm cube. Photo credit: NASA/JSC
Mount DeWitt (DEW) 12007 (94 g regolith breccia) “7% of the external surface is covered by a dark brown vesicular fusion crust.” In the field (left and center; photo credit Korea Polar Research Institute) and at home (right; photo credit: Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide, Università degli Studi di Siena)
Two views of Meteorite Hills (MET) 01210. There are few anorthositic clasts. “30% of this meteorite’s exterior has brown/black fusion crust with some oxidation. The interior is a light gray matrix with abundant clasts.” Photo credit: NASA/JSC
Two sides of Elephant Moraine (EET) 87521, a fragmental breccia. “About 30% of this smooth rounded specimen is covered with black to brown shiny fusion crust. The interior of this coherent breccia is dark and fine-grained and contains numerous small white and yellow inclusions.” Photo credit: NASA/JSC
Interior of EET 87521 rock after it had been cracked in two. Photo credit: NASA/JSC
Two sides of Elephant Moraine (EET) 96008, a fragmental breccia paired with EET87251. “50% of this meteorite is covered by a black glassy fusion crust. Areas that lack fusion crust appear virtually unweathered. The fusion crust is very thinly distributed over the surface of the rock.” Photo credit: NASA/JSC

Unbrecciated basalts and gabbros

Four sides of LaPaz Icefield (LAP) 02205. “95% of the exterior surface has black fusion crust. Small areas of material have been plucked out. The fusion crust exhibits a slight ropy texture with polygonal fractures.” Photo credit: NASA/JSC
LaPaz Icefield (LAP) 02206, a meteorite paired with LAP 02206. Photo credit: NASA/JSC
Yamato 793169. The longest dimension is 1.8 cm. Photo credit: K. Yanai and H. Kojima
Two views of Miller Range (MIL) 05035. “The exterior has about 95% black, shiny fusion crust.” Photo credit: NASA/JSC
Asuka-881757, with dark fusion crust exposed on the left. Photo credit: Randy Korotev