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NWA 13937 Lunar (feldsp. breccia)

This two inch long slice was a gift from Hanno Strufe who owns one kilogram of this material with Ismaily Sidi Mohamed. Of course I immediately sent it to be thin sectioned.

NWA 13937 is a lunar feldspathic breccia. Dr. Ansgar Greshake describes it as predominantly composed of lithic and mineral clasts in partly shock melted and vesicular matrix. In this case the melt is intimately mingled with non-melted mineral grains and clasts. It is a frozen slurry.

 

The original slice. Oddly, after having been thin sectioned these two lighter colored clasts appear darker than surrounding material.

 

 

I had the slice cut into three pieces to fit all of it onto slides. Here we view them from the back to match the view above.

 

 

The first slide above.

 

 

Sample is 25mm along the base. Outlined area is enlarged below. Transmitted light.

 

 

Under magnification it appears chaotic but there are some areas where we can see clear evidence of flow. Outlined area is enlarged below. Transmitted light.

 

 

A jumble of melt and minerals. This and all following photos are thin sections in partially crossed polarized light, PXPL, which gives the best view of this glass and crystalline mélange.

 

 

Slightly higher magnification. FOV= 3mm, PXPL.

 

 

Higher magnification. FOV= 1.4mm, PXPL.

 

 

FOV=0.9mm, PXPL.

 

 

Here are more areas of flow that I found in other thin sections of this meteorite. FOV=3mm, PXPL.

 

 

FOV=0.9mm, PXPL.

 

 

FOV=0.9mm, PXPL.

 

 

FOV=0.9mm, PXPL.

 

 

FOV=0.9mm, PXPL.
John Kashuba

John Kashuba

John is a natural history enthusiast living in Oregon.
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