kz19114c.jpg (18011 bytes)

 

 

  

Click images to enlarge:

nwa482c.jpg (107191 bytes)   nwa482a.jpg (107442 bytes) 

nwa482b.jpg (104385 bytes)   004.jpg (103980 bytes)

nwa482closeup.JPG (93755 bytes)

The oriented complete specimen of NWA 482 weighed 1015 grams before cutting.
 

The following announcement was published in the Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 85,  July 2001:

  • Northwest Africa 482 (NWA 482)
  • Found 2000?
  • Lunar meteorite - impact melt (polymict, crystalline) breccia


The exact location of find is unknown, but it is probably in Algeria. The stone is complete, oriented, and appears relatively unweathered. Classification and mineralogy (A. Rubin and   P. Warren, UCLA, and D. Kring and I. Daubar, UAz): texture is typical of a crystalline impact melt breccia (polymict) with highland affinities; glassy and vesicular melt veins and melt pockets indicate shock subsequent to compaction by an impact event; plagioclase, An95.7 Ab4.09 Or0.17 (n = 136, UAz); olivine, Fo65-68 (average Fo66) with FeO/MnO =  88 +/- 7 g/g (UCLA); olivine Fo68.4 with FeO/MnO = 93.9 +/- 7.7 g/g (range: 78.7 to 111) (n = 51, UAz); pyroxene, Fs25 Wo17 with nearly uniform Mg/(Mg+Fe) = 67 - 68 mol% and FeO/MnO = 51 +/- 6 g/g (n = 10, UCLA); pyroxene, Wo10.3-51 En32.6-63.9 Fs42.6-14.2, mean Mg/(Mg+Fe) = 68 mol%, FeO/MnO =  52 +/- 8 g/g (n = 28, UAz);   glassy melt veins occur in both UCLA and UAz samples; a 0.1 mm vein (UCLA) has   SiO2 = 44.3 wt.%,  Na2O = 0.3 wt.%, Al2O3 = 30.0 wt.%, FeO = 3.6 wr.%, MgO = 3.9 wt.%, CaO = 17.3 wt.%, and TiO2 = 0.3 wt.%, which may approximate the bulk meteorite composition.

 
 

The Washington University of St. Louis has a website giving information on all Lunar meteorites at Lunar Meteorites

Also from Washington University is a list of all Lunar meteorites found on earth.

Research paper stating that NWA 482 came from the Dark Side of the Moon !!!

 

The following two references require an Acrobat Reader (it is free), to view as they are PDF documents:

Warren P. H. and Kallemeyn G. W. (2001) New lunar meteorite Northwest Africa 482: An anorthositic impact melt breccia with low KREEP content (abstract). 64th Meteoritical Society Meeting, CD-ROM no. 5453.

Nishiizumi K. and Caffee M. W. (2001) Exposure histories of lunar meteorites Dhofar 025, 026, and Northwest Africa 482 (abstract), 64th Meteoritical Society Meeting, CD-ROM no. 5411.

Consolmagno G. J., Russell S. S., and Jeffries T. E. (2004) An in–situ study of REE abundances in three anorthositic impact melt lunar highland meteorites. Lunar and Planetary Science XXXV, abstract no. 1370, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Daubar I. J., Kring D. A., Swindle T. D., and Jull A. J. T. (2002) Northwest Africa 482: A crystalline impact-melt breccia from the lunar highlands, Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 37, 1797-1814.

 

 

All photos and text are copyright and may not be used without permission.