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Lunar Meteorite: Miller Range (MIL) 05035

Antarctica 

  

MIL 05035 in the field
  

MIL 05035 in the lab
  


MIL 05035 in the lab
(Cecilia - Thanks for the photos.)
  

Four views of the same half-gram fragment of MIL 05035 in the lab
(Click on images for enlargements. Photos by Randy Korotev)
  
Photomicrograph of a thin section of MIL 05035 showing mainly plagioclase and pyroxene, with a small amount of ilmenite.
Field of view: 14 mm wide. Compare with Asuka 881757. (Click on image for enlargement. Photo by Randy Korotev)


It is an unbrecciated basalt.

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

It is compositionally and mineralogically similar to Asuka 881757 and Yamato 793169. All three were likely launched from the same crater on the Moon.
  


from Antarctic Meteorite Newsletter, vol. 29, No. 2, 2006

MIL 05035

Location: Miller Range
Dimensions (cm): 4.5 x 4.0 x 3.5
Weight (g): 142.216
Meteorite Type: Lunar-Basalt

Macroscopic Description: Kathleen McBride

The exterior has about 95% black, shiny fusion crust. The interior is pinkish-tan in color with no rusting. The rock is moderately hard and has an unusual granular texture with a vague resemblance to granite. There are numerous inclusions; linear white features a few mm in length, melted appearing black, glassy inclusions with an iridescent “peacock ore” opalescent sheen, a transparent, glass like mineral, and a few clay-like powdery areas.

Thin Section (,2) Description: Tim McCoy

The section exhibits an unbrecciated texture of coarse-grained (several mm) pyroxene and maskelynite with interstitial sulfides, iron-titanium oxides, intergrowths of fayalite-silicate-augite, and other late-stage glasses and minerals (including BaO-enriched potassium feldspar). Pyroxenes are strongly zoned and include pigeonites and augites with a range of compositions Fs31-55Wo15-42 and Fe/Mn of ~60. Plagioclase is An83-92Or0-2. The meteorite is a lunar basalt, although it exhibits some properties (e.g., maskelynite) unusual among known lunar samples.
  

More Information

Antarctic Meteorite Newsletter, vol. 29(2), September, 2006 - MIL 05035

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

MIL 05035

Map

ANSMET location Map

References

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.

Isaacson P. J., Liu Y., Patchen A., Pieters C. M., and Taylor L. A. (2009) Integrated analyses of lunar meteorites: Expanded data for lunar ground truth (abstract). In Lunar and Planetary Science XL, abstract no. 2119, 40th 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.

Joy K. H., Anand M., Crawford I. A., and Russell S. S. (2007) Petrography and bulk composition of Miller Range 05035: A new lunar VLT gabbro (abstract). In Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVIII, abstract no. 1867, 38th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston.

Joy K. H., Crawford I.A., Anand M., Greenwood R. C., Franch, I. A., Russell S.S. (2008) The petrology and geochemistry of Miller Range 05035: A new lunar gabbroic meteorite. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 72, 3822–3844.

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.

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.

Liu Y., Floss C., Day J. M. D, Hill E., and Taylor L. A. (2009) Petrogenesis of lunar mare basalt meteorite Miller Range 05035. Meteoritics & Planetary Science 44, 261-284.

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.

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.

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). In Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVIII, abstract no. 2110. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Chemical Classification

Overview | MIL 05035 | 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