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Northwest Africa 10659 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Basic information | Name: Northwest Africa 10659 This is an OFFICIAL meteorite name. Abbreviation: NWA 10659 Observed fall: No Year found: 2015 Country: Morocco Mass: ![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Classification history: |
This is 1 of 32 approved meteorites classified as Martian (nakhlite). [show all] Search for other: Martian meteorites | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Comments: | Approved 24 May 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Writeup![]() |
Writeup from MB 105:
Northwest Africa 10659 (NWA 10659) Morocco Purchased: 2015 Classification: Martian meteorite (Nakhlite) History: Found near the Algeria-Mauritania border in Morocco, and sold by a Moroccan nomad/dealer. 7.2 g from a larger mass, of unknown quantity, was purchased by Jaouad Chaoui in Laayoune, Morocco. Physical characteristics: Five individual stones of granular, friable material. One of the stones (3.870 g) still retained ~17.5 mm2 of fusion crust on its surface. The interior grains are dark green, dark grey, light beige, with red-brown components. Petrography: (J.C. Bridges and L.J. Hicks, UoL) Cumulate texture. Consists of compositionally zoned tabular pyroxenes (~65%), up to 1.5 mm in length, and larger grains of fayalite olivine (~5%). There is an interstitial mesostasis of albite and orthoclase feldspar (~30%), with exsolved Ti-rich magnetite and phosphate grains. Both olivine and mesostasis contain a secondary phase iron-silicate alteration material, compositionally resembling the ferric saponite and serpentine found in other nakhlites (Hicks et al, 2014). Geochemistry: Olivine (cores Fa63.3-77.6, N = 12); pyroxene (cores Fs20.2-39.0Wo39.2-42.3, N = 16; rims Fs25.1-45.7Wo37.4-42.4, N = 8); plagioclase (An13.8-28.3Or3.7-6.8, N = 22); alteration phase in olivine fractures (average of 72 analyses in wt.%, normalized to 100% anhydrous): SiO2 56.9, Al2O3 0.3, FeO[Total] 37.0, MgO 3.0, CaO 1.6, Na2O 0.2, K2O 0.3, SO3 0.8); alteration phase in mesostasis fractures (average of 66 analyses in wt.%, normalized to 100% anhydrous): SiO2 57.1, Al2O3 4.3, FeO[Total] 31.0, MgO 2.8, CaO 2.6, Na2O 0.3, K2O 1.0, P2O5 0.3, SO3 0.6); Oxygen isotopes with acid wash, average of 2 powder analyses (2 mg each) on same sample (100 mg powder): δ17O: 2.990; δ18O: 5.139; Δ17O: 0.317 (R.C. Greenwood, I.A. Franchi, OU) Classification: Martian meteorite, nakhlite. Possibly paired with NWA 10153. Specimens: 5.6 g in 3 pieces, plus three polished sections at ULei. The remaining material is held by G. Ensor. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Data from: MB105 Table 0 Line 0: |
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Plots: | O isotopes: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Institutions and collections |
OU: Planetary and Space Sciences
Department of Physical Sciences
The Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA
United Kingdom, United Kingdom (institutional address; updated 8 Dec 2011) ULei: University of Leicester, United Kingdom (institutional address; updated 10 May 2016) |
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Catalogs: |
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References: | Published in Meteoritical Bulletin, no. 105, MAPS 52, 2411, September 2017. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/maps.12944/full
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Geography:![]() |
Statistics: This is 1 of 1973 approved meteorites from Morocco (plus 37 unapproved names) (plus 1 impact crater) |