Northwest Africa 14510 (NWA 14510)

(Northwest Africa)

Purchased: 1 April 2021

Classification: HED achondrite (Howardite)

History: An importer of Moroccan meteorites brought a collection of stones to Robert Verish for classification.

Physical characteristics: This single (112.6 g) stone is shaped like a rectangular-solid. Only three sides are covered with a patchy black fusion-crust. A cut surface reveals a fresh matrx that has patches of clasts and crystals that are beige, tan, white, brassy, and small black specks.

Petrography: (D. Sheikh, Cascadia) Sample is a breccia composed of sub-angular lithic and mineral clasts (up to ~0.7 mm) set within a fine-grained matrix. Lithic clast lithologies include both blocky clasts dominated by orthopyroxene (~20 %) and clasts (both basaltic and cumulate) composed of low-Ca pyroxene, pigeonite (some exsolved), augite (some exsolved), and calcic plagioclase (~80 %). Accessory phases (<1 %) include SiO₂-rich glass, ilmenite, and chromite.

Geochemistry: Blocky clasts (diogenite): Low-Ca Pyroxene (Fs_28.2±1.9Wo_3.7±0.5, range Fs_25.6-30.7Wo_3.0-4.4, FeO/MnO=25±2, n=6); Other clasts (eucrite): Low-Ca Pyroxene (Fs_47.4±3.4Wo_4.2±1.1, range Fs_39.3-53.9Wo_2.6-5.6, FeO/MnO=27±2, n=14), Pigeonite (Fs_43.3±3.9Wo_10.9±5.5, range Fs_36.2-47.9Wo_6.4-21.5, FeO/MnO=25±1, n=7), Augite (Fs_22.7±5.6Wo_40.9±5.7, range Fs_18.6-32.2Wo_30.7-43.9, FeO/MnO=27±4, n=5), Calcic Plagioclase (An_93.4±0.5, range An_92.9-94.7, n=10).

Classification: HED achondrite (Howardite)

Specimens: 25 g at UCLA, main mass with Verish