Northwest Africa 7135 (NWA 7135)

Northwest Africa

Purchased: 2010 Oct

Classification: Ungrouped chondrite

History: Purchased by Fabien Kuntz in October 2010 from a Moroccan dealer at the Munich Show.

Physical characteristics: Brown stone (51.3 g) lacking fusion crust and with evident light-colored, round chondrules.

Petrography: (A. Irving and S. Kuehner, UWS) Composed of separated, mostly spherical, relatively small chondrules (mean 0.69±0.53 mm, n=40) in a matrix (~30 vol.%) rich in altered kamacite. Some chondrules contain interstitial feldspathic glass. Minerals are olivine, zoned orthopyroxene, pigeonite, diopside, subcalcic augite, Cr-rich chromite, pyrrhotite, pentlandite, daubreelite, oldhamite, schreibersite and rare barite. The presence of highly reduced sulfides and phosphides suggest an atypical ordinary chondrite.

Geochemistry: Olivine, predominantly Fa_4.8-6.3 (N = 15), with some more ferroan grains Fa_19.8-19.9 (N = 2); orthopyroxene, Fs_7.0-21.8Wo_0.4-1.5 (N = 3); pigeonite, Fs_17.3Wo_6.9; subcalcic augite, Fs_13.3-22.2Wo_25.4-29.9 (N = 2). The mean olivine composition (Fa₆) is much more magnesian than for H chondrites of similar subtype. Oxygen isotopes (K. Ziegler, UNM): analyses of acid-washed subsamples by laser fluorination gave, respectively, δ¹⁷O = 3.207, 3.649, 3.262, 3.379, 3.859; δ¹⁸O = 5.175, 6.072, 5.326, 5.333, 6.450; Δ¹⁷O = 0.475, 0.443, 0.450, 0.563, 0.453 (all per mil). Oxygen isotopes plot in a region above the TFL and at relatively high δ¹⁸O values.

Classification: Ungrouped chondrite, high metamorphic type 3 or type 4.

Specimens: 10.44 g including one polished thin section at PSF; main mass with Kuntz.