ALHA 81005

Lunar Meteorite: Allan Hills (ALHA) A81005

Antarctica

(a) The meteorite has a partial greenish fusion crust. It is somewhat vesicular, which is characteristic of fusion crusts on lunar regolith breccias. Regolith at the lunar surface contains implanted atoms of solar wind, mostly hydrogen and helium. This gas is released when the exterior of the stone melts as it passes through earths atmosphere. (From NASA photo S82-35869)

(b) Many clasts are visible on this broken face. Like other lunar regolith breccias but unlike many terrestrial sedimentary rocks, the clasts are unsorted - they come in a complete range of sizes.

Another view of the meteorite. (From NASA photo S83-34612)

Lunar regolith breccias are fractal objects - regardless of the scale, they look similar. This image is a photomicrograph of a thin section of a fragment of ALHA 81005. The width of the fragment is ~3 mm, a factor-of-10 less than the width of broken face of the whole meteorite in (b).

It's the first rock found on Earth recognized to be a meteorite from the Moon.

Compositionally, mineralogically, and texturally it is unlike any other lunar meteorite.

Listed in The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 76, Meteoritics 29, 100-143 (1994)

from Antarctic Meteorite Newsletter, Vol. 6, No. 1, February, 1983 (PDF p. 11)

Location: Allan Hills
Field No.: 1422
Weight (gms): 31.4

Meteorite Type: Anorthositic Breccia

Physical Description: Roberta Score

This is an unusual looking sample! Flow marks are apparent on the exterior which is covered with a pitted, glassy, greenish-tan colored crust. Immediately underneath this crust, the surface is a "dusty" gray color. The interior consists of abundant angular clasts, which range in color from gray to white, set in a black matrix. The size of the clasts are as small as submillimeter and as large as 8 mm in diameter. The sample is very coherent. Some areas of oxidation were noted. Dimensions: 3 x 2.5 x 3 cm.

Petrographic Description: Brian Mason

The specimen is a microbreccia of clasts (maximum dimension 4 mm) in a translucent to semi-opaque dark brown glassy matrix showing flow structure in places; clast:matrix ratio is approximately 40:60. The larger clasts are polymineralic, the smaller (less than 0.3 mm) may be individual mineral grains. The clasts consist largely of plagioclase, together with some pyroxene and occasional olivine; most of the mineral grains are plagioclase. The clasts show a variety of textures, including gabbroic, diabasic, and basaltic; many have been shocked and partly granulated. Some of the clasts resemble eucrites, but many appear to be more feldspathic than most eucrites. The section is notable for the complete absence of opaque minerals, except for a 1 mm metal grain. Microprobe analyses show that the plagioclase is very Ca-rich, averaging An₉₇ (range An_95-98); pyroxene is variable in composition, Wo_1-41, En_44-79, Fs_7-47 (richer in En than most eucrite pyroxenes); several grains of olivine, Fa_11-40, were analyzed. The meteorite is a breccia, but more feldspathic than most eucrites; some of the clasts resemble the anorthositic clasts described from lunar rocks.

More Information

References

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Bogard D. D. and Johnson P. (1983) Trapped noble gases indicate lunar origin for Antarctic meteorite, Geophysical Research Letters 10, 801-803.

Boynton W. V. and Hill D. H. (1983) Minor and trace elements in clast and whole rock samples of Allan Hills A81005 (abstract). In Lunar and Planetary Science XIV, Abstracts from the Session on Meteorites from Earth's Moon, p. 3-4, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Boynton W. V. and Hill D. H. (1983) Composition of bulk fragments and a possible pristine clast from Allan Hills A81005, Geophysical Research Letters 10, 837-840.

Delano J. W. (1990) Constraints on the highlands source-area of lunar meteorite ALHA 81005 using chemical compositions of glasses (abstract). In Lunar and Planetary Science XXI, p. 276–277, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Delano J. W. (1991) Geochemical comparison of impact glasses from lunar meteorites ALHA81005 and MAC88105 and Apollo 16 regolith 64001, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 55, 3019-3029.

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Chemical Classification

Overview | ALHA 81005

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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: 02-Apr-2012