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Lunar Meteorite: Asuka 881757

Asuka Station, SØr Rondane Mountains, Antarctica 

Asuka-881757, a coarse-grained mare basalt, is one of the few unbrecciated lunar meteorites (photo from Yanai, 2003).
Photomicrograph of a thin section of Asuka-88175 showing mainly plagioclase and pyroxene, with a small amount of ilmenite.  The field of view is 9 mm wide (photo from Yanai, 2003).

Compare with MIL 05035.


It is an unbrecciated basalt.

It's unlike any basalt from the Apollo and Luna missions.

It is compositionally and mineralogically similar to Yamato 793169 and MIL 05035. All three were likely launched from the same crater on the Moon.
  

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

Asuka 881757

Other Sites

Antarctic Meteorite Research Center | National Institute of Polar Research

Map

NIPR Location Map

References

Arai T., Takeda H., and Miyamoto M. (2006) Experimental petrology of ancient lunar mare basalt Asuka-881757: Spinel crystallization as a petrologic indicator. Antarctic meteorite Research 19, 1-19.

Arai T., Misawa K., and Kojima H. (2007) Lunar meteorite MIL 05035: mare basalt paired with Asuka-881757 (abstract). In Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVIII, abstract no. 1582, 38th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston.

Arai T., Hawke B. R., and Giguere T. A. (2008) Antarctic lunar meteorites from cryptomaria of the Moon (abstract). In Lunar and Planetary Science XXXIX, abstract no. 2423, 39th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston.

Fernandes V. A., Morris A., and Burgess R. (2005) New Ar-Ar Age determinations for the lunar mare basalts Asuka 881757 and Yamato 793169 (abstract). In Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVI, abstract no. 1002, 36th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston.

Fernandes V. A., Burgess R., and Morris A. (2009) 40Ar-39Ar age determinations of lunar basalt meteorites Asuka 881757, Yamato 793169, Miller Range 05035, LaPaz Icefield 02205, Northwest Africa 479, and basaltic breccia Elephant Moraine 96008. Meteoritics & Planetary Science 44, p. 805–821.

Jolliff B. L., Korotev R. L., and Haskin L. A. (1993) Lunar basaltic meteorites Yamato-793169 and Asuka-881757: Samples of the same low-Ti mare-lava? In Papers Presented to the Eighteenth Symposium on Antarctic Meteorites, p. 214–217, National Institute of Polar Research, May 1993, Tokyo.

Koeberl C., Kurat G., and Brandstätter F. (1993) Gabbroic lunar mare meteorites Asuka-881757 (Asuka-31) and Yamato 793169: Geochemical and mineralogical study, Proc. NIPR Symp. Antarct. Meteorites 6, 14–34. Nat. Inst. Polar Res., Tokyo.

Korotev R. L. (2005) Lunar geochemistry as told by lunar meteorites. Chemie der Erde 65, 297–346.

Korotev R. L. and Zeigler R. A. (2007) Keeping up with the lunar meteorites (abstract). In Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVIII, abstract no. 1340, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Korotev R. L., Jolliff B. L., Zeigler R. A., and Haskin L. A. (2003) Compositional constraints on the launch pairing of three brecciated lunar meteorites of basaltic composition, Antarctic Meteorite Research 16, 152–175.

Liu Y., Hill E., Patchen A., and Taylor L.A. (2007) New lunar meteorite MIL 05035: Petrography and mineralogy (abstract). In Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVIII, abstract no. 2103, 38th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston.

Masuda A. and Takahashi K. (1999) Origin of a lunar meteorite Asuka 881757: REE geochemistry (abstract). In Lunar and Planetary Science XXX, abstract #1338, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Misawa K., Tatsumoto M., and Yanai K. (1992) U-Th-Pb isotopic systematics of lunar meteorite Asuka-31. Proc. NIPR Symp. Antarct. Meteorites 5, 3–22.

Misawa K., Tatsumoto M., Dalrymple G. B., and Yanai K. (1992) U-Th-Pb, Sm-Nd, and Rb-Sr isotopic systematics an 39Ar/40Ar age of lunar meteorite Asuka-881757 (abstract), Papers Presented to the 17th Symposium on Antarctic Meteorites, August 19–21, 1992, Tokyo, Natl. Inst. Polar Res., 119–121.

Misawa K., Tatsumoto M., Dalrymple G. B., and Yanai K. (1992) An extremely low U/Pb source in the Moon: U-Th-Pb, Sm-Nd, Rb-Sr, and 40Ar/39Ar isotopic systematics and age of lunar meteorite Asuka 881757. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 57, 4687–4702.

Morris A., Fernandes V., and Burgess R. (2008) Ar-Ar ages for lunar basalt meteorites: A 881757, Y 793169, MIL 05035, LAP 02205, NWA479 and EET 96008. Goldschmidt Conference Abstracts 2008, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 72, 12S, p. A652.

Nagy Sz., Gyollai I., Bérczi Sz., Fürj J., and Gucsik A. (2009) Shock metamorphism in lunar meteorites Yamato-86032, Asuka- 881757 and in primitive achondrite Yamato-794046 (abstract). Antarctic Meteorites XXXII, Papers Presented to the Thirty-second Symposium on Antarctic Meteorites, p. 47-48. National Institute of Polar research, Tokyo.

Nishiizumi K., Arnold J. R., Caffee M. W., Finkel R. C., Southon J., and Reedy R. C. (1991) Cosmic ray exposure histories of lunar meteorites Asuka 881757, Yamato 793169, and Calcalong Creek (abstract) Papers Presented to the 17th Symposium on Antarctic Meteorites, August 19-21, Tokyo, Natl. Inst. Polar Res., 129-132.

Nyquist L. E., Shih C-Y., and Reese Y. D. (2007) Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr ages for MIL 05035: Implications for surface and mantle sources (abstract). In Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVIII, abstract no. 1702, 38th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston.

Oba T. and Kobayashi Y. (2001) The mineral assemblage of symplectites in lunar meteorite Asuka-881757, Antarct. Meteorite Res. 14, 21-27.

Thalmann C., Eugster O., Herzog G. F., Klein J., Krähenbühl U., Vogt S., and Xue S. (1996) History of lunar meteorites Queen Alexandra Range 93069, Asuka 881757, and Yamato 793169 based on noble gas isotopic abundances, radionuclide concentrations, and chemical composition. Meteoriical &.Planetary Science 31, 857-868. 

Warren P. H. and Kallemeyn G. W. (1993) Geochemical investigations of two lunar mare meteorites: Yamato-793169 and Asuka-881757. Proc. NIPR Symp. Antarct. Meteorites 6, 35-57. Nat. Inst. Polar Res., Tokyo. 

Yanai K. (1991) Gabbroic meteorite Asuka-31; Preliminary examination of a new type of lunar meteorite in the Japanese collection of Antarctic meteorites. Proc. Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. 21, 317-324. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Yanai K., Kojima H., and Naraoka H. (1993) The Asuka-87 and Asuka-88 collections of Antarctic meteorites; Search, discoveries, initial processing, and preliminary identification and classification. Proc. NIPR Symp. Antarct. Meteorites 6, 137-147.

Yanai K. (1993) The Asuka-87 and Asuka-88 collections of Antarctic meteorites: Preliminary examination with brief descriptions of some typical and unique-unusual specimens. Proceedings of the NIPR Symposium on Antarctic Meteorites 6, 148-170 (2003).

Zeigler R. A., Korotev R. L., and Jolliff B. L. (2007) Miller Range 05035 and Meteorite Hills 01210: Two basaltic lunar meteorites, both likely source-crater paired with Asuka 881757 and Yamato 793169 (abstract). Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVIII, abstract no. 2110. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Chemical Classification

Overview | Asuka 881757 | Basaltic Lunar Meteorites
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Prepared by:

Randy L. Korotev

Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Washington University in St. Louis

Please don't contact me about the meteorite you think you’ve found until you read this and this.

e-mail: korotev@wustl.edu

Last revised: 19-Aug-2009