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Lunar Meteorite: Northwest Africa 032 & 479 (paired stones)

Morocco

 


Northwest Africa 479 showing green olivine phenocrysts. 
(photo courtesy of Bruno Fectay & Carine Bidaut, www.meteorite.fr)

Several people have contacted us saying that they had a rock that looked just like NWA 032/479.  Basaltic volcanism occurs on Earth and several other planetary bodies (Mars, Venus, Io, the Moon).  Basalts with olivine phenocrysts and textures like NWA 032 are common on Earth.  So, if you have a rock that looks like NWA 032, it's probably not a meteorite.

A small slab from Northwest Africa 479 (photo by Randy Korotev)

Polished slab of Northwest Africa 032 showing olivine phenocrysts (photo courtesy of R. A. Langheinrich)

X-ray image of Northwest Africa 032, courtesy of Tim Fagan (click on image for enlargement).

from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 84, Meteoritics and Planetary Science 35, A199-A255 (2000)

Northwest Africa 032

near 30º22'N 5º3'W 
Morocco, near Algerian border 
Found 1999 October 

Lunar meteorite (olivine-pyroxene basalt) 

A stone of ~300 g was found in the desert (see Table 9). Classification and mineralogy (T. Fagan, UHaw; T. Bunch and J. Wittke, NAU): olivine, pyroxene, and chromite phenocrysts occur in a groundmass of elongate, zoned pyroxene (En1-25Wo15-25) and feldspar (~An85) crystals radiating from common nucleation sites; opaque phases include elongate, skeletal ilmenite, troilite, and trace metal; olivine phenocrysts (~12 vol%) up to 300 µm are zoned from Fo65 (cores) to Fo60 (rims), and commonly have chromite inclusions; pyroxene phenocrysts (~5 vol%) are complexly zoned, with En40-50Wo20-40 and En15-25Wo10-20 domains; both olivine and pyroxene phenocrysts surrounded by Fe-rich quenched margins (olivines, ~Fo30; pyroxenes, En5-25Wo15-30); glass with ~45.7 wt% SiO2 occurs in semi-continuous shock veins up to 50 µm wide; some terrestrial weathering products are present in fractures, but primary assemblage is essentially unaltered. Oxygen isotope compositions (R. Clayton, UChi): d18O = +5.63 ‰, d17O = +2.92‰. Bulk composition (in wt%, E. Jarosewich, SI): SiO2 = 44.7; TiO2 = 3.08; Al2O3 = 8.74; FeO = 23.0; MnO = 0.33; MgO = 8.45; CaO = 10.9; Na2O = 0.37; K2O = 0.11; H2O = 0.06. Specimens: type specimen, ~5-6 g, contact T. Bunch, NAU; 1.1 g plus thin section, UHaw; main mass, 260 g, Radomsky.
from The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 85, Meteoritics & Planetary Science 36, A293-A322 (2001)

Northwest Africa 479

Possibly Khter n'Aït Khebbach, Morocco 
Found 2000 November 

Lunar meteorite (mare basalt) 

A 156 g stone was collected in Morocco in the area of Khter n'Aït Khebbach, however, the exact location is unknown. Classification and mineralogy (J.-A. Barrat, UAng, A. Jambon, UPVI, Violaine Sautter, MNHNP, Ph. Gillet, ENSL): consists of phenocrysts of olivine, pyroxene and chromite in a groundmass of pyroxene and calcic plagioclase; texture closely resembles that of NWA 032; mineral compositions are identical to those reported for NWA 032 (see Met. Bull. 84). Specimens: main mass with anonymous finder; type specimen, 8 g and 1 thin section, ENSL; 3.6 g, NHMV.

More Information

Meteoritical Bulletin Database

NWA 032 | NWA 479

Lunar Meteorite Compendium

NWA 032/479

References

Barrat J. A., Gillet Ph., Jambon A., Sautter V., Javoy M., Petit E., and Lesourd M. (2001) News from the Moon and Mars: preliminary examinations of two new Saharan finds (abstract).Lunar and Planetary Science 32, CDROM #1713, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Barrat J. A., Chaussidon M., Bohn M., Gillet Ph., Göpel C., Lesourd M. (2005) Lithium behavior during cooling of a dry basalt: An ion-microprobe study of the lunar meteorite Northwest Africa 479 (NWA 479). Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 69, 5597–5609.

Borg L., Gaffney A., and DePaolo D. (2007) Rb-Sr & Sm-Nd isotopic systematics of NWA032 (abstract). 70th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, abstract no. 5232. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Day J. M. D. and Taylor L. A. (2007) On the structure of mare basalt lava flows from textural analysis of the LaPaz Icefield and Northwest Africa 032 lunar meteorites. Meteoritics & Planetary Science 42, 3–17.

Fagan T. J., Bunch T. E., Wittke J. H., Jarosewich E., Clayton R. N., Mayeda T., Eugster O., Lorenzetti S., Keil K., and Taylor G. J. (2000) Northwest Africa 032: A new lunar mare basalt (abstract). Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 35, p. A51, 63rd Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting, CD-ROM no. 5159.

Fagan T. J., Taylor G. J., Keil K., Bunch T. E., Wittke J. H., Korotev R. L., Jolliff B. L., Gillis J. J., Haskin L. A., Jarosewich E., Clayton R. N., Mayeda T. K., Fernandes V. A., Burgess R., Turner G., Eugster O., and Lorenzetti S. (2002) Northwest Africa 032: Product of lunar volcanismMeteorit. Planet. Sci. 37, 371-394.

Fernandes V. A. (2006) Lunar volcanism during the Erastothenian II: NWA 479 (abstract). 69th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, abstract no. 5312. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Fernandes V. A. and Burgess R. (2006) Ar-Ar studies of two lunar mare rocks: LAP02205 and EET96008 (abstract). In Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVII, abstract no. 1145, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Fernandes V. A., Burgess R., and Turner G. (2001) North West Africa 032 (NWA032): Evidence for lunar volcanism at 2.80 Ga (abstract), 64th Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting, CD-ROM no. 5304.

Fernandes V. A., Burgess R. and Turner G. (2003) 40Ar-39Ar chronology of lunar meteorites Northwest Africa 032 and 773. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 38, 555–564.

Gaffney A. and Borg L. (2008) What we are learning about the Moon from lunar meteorites. Goldschmidt Conference Abstracts 2008, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 72, 12S, p. A287.

Hidaka H. and Yoneda S. (2006) Neodymium, samarium and gadolinium isotopic studies of lunar meteorites Dhofar 489 and NWA 032 (abstract). 69th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, abstract no. 5169. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Koizumi, E.; Mikouchi, T.; Chokai, J.; Miyamoto, M. (2006) Crystallization of lunar basaltic meteorites Northwest Africa 032 and 479: Preservation of the parent melt composition and relationship to LAP 02205. abstract no. 1586, Lunar & Planetary Science XXXVII, 37th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, League City, TX.

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

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.

Lorenzetti S., Busemann H., and Eugster O. (2005) Regolith history of lunar meteorites. Meteor. Planet. Sci. 40, 315-327.

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.

Zeigler R. A., Korotev R. L., Jolliff B. L., and Haskin L. A. (2005) Petrology and geochemistry of the LaPaz icefield basaltic lunar meteorite and source-crater pairing with Northwest Africa 032. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 40, 1073–1102.

Chemical Classification

Overview | NWA 032/479 | 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: 09-Jul-2008