header
  MetSoc Home            Publications            Contacts  
Search the Meteoritical Bulletin Database
Last update: 12 Mar 2024
Search for: Search type: Search limits: Display: Publication:
Names
Text help
Places
Classes
Years
Contains
Starts with
Exact
Sounds like
NonAntarctic
Falls  Non-NWAs
What's new
  in the last:
Limit to approved meteorite names
Search text:
 
Northwest Africa 15343
Basic information Name: Northwest Africa 15343
     This is an OFFICIAL meteorite name.
Abbreviation: NWA 15343
Observed fall: No
Year found: 2021
Country: Algeria
Mass:help 4.02 kg
Classification
  history:
Meteoritical Bulletin:  MB 111  (2023)  Lunar
Recommended:  Lunar    [explanation]

This is 1 of 104 approved meteorites classified as Lunar.   [show all]
Search for other: Lunar meteorites
Comments: Approved 4 Dec 2022
Writeuphelp
Writeup from MB 111:

Northwest Africa 15343 (NWA 15343)

Algeria

Find: 2021

Classification: Lunar meteorite

History: Found by a nomad in summer 2021 near Hassi L’Hajar, which is approximatively 90 km from Ouargla, Algeria. Purchased by Stone gallery (The Netherlands), Michel van den Dries (Belgium) and anonymous in 2022. Several 5 to 30 g stones of the lot (totaling 493 g) were sold to another unknown buyer.

Physical characteristics: The stones (from 7.2 to 783 g) have a dark brown and shiny, sand-blasted surface. The cut surface of the type specimen reveals a melt breccia with numerous <1 mm clasts embedded within a dark matrix. It appears fresh, with visible metal grains.

Petrography: (A. Bouvier, UBayr) Breccia consisting of a dark glassy matrix containing abundant sub-millimeter lithic clasts, which are mostly mineral fragments (olivine, pyroxene, plagioclase) as well as rarer mafic clasts (norite) found in the polished section. Fe-Ni metal, troilite, Cr-spinel, and chromite are also present.

Geochemistry: Olivine Fa29.2±4.8 with Fe/Mn=94±13 (n=18); Low-Ca pyroxene Fs18.0Wo3.4 (n=1); Pigeonite Fs32.5±4.4Wo13.3±5.7, Fe/Mn=51.2±4.6 (n=6); high-Ca pyroxene Fs21.4±10.0Wo39.1±3.0, Fe/Mn=53.4±4.3 (n=3); Plagioclase An96.5±1.1Or0.1±0.1 (n=23).

Classification: Lunar (melt breccia)

Specimens: 42.2 g including a polished mount at UBayr. Main mass (786 g) with Stone gallery (The Netherlands), other smaller masses with Stone gallery (The Netherlands), Michel van den Dries (Belgium) and anonymous.

Data from:
  MB111
  Table 0
  Line 0:
Origin or pseudonym:Hassi L'Hajar
Date:2021
Mass (g):4016
Pieces:55
Class:Lunar
Weathering grade:low
Fayalite (mol%):29.2±4.8
Classifier:A. Bouvier, UBayr
Type spec mass (g):42.2
Type spec location:UBayr
Main mass:Stone Gallery
Comments:UB-8; submitted by A. Bouvier
Institutions
   and collections
UBayr: Bayerisches Geoinstitut, University of Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany (institutional address; updated 5 Feb 2020)
Catalogs:
References: Published in Gattacceca J., McCubbin F. M., Grossman J. N., Schrader D. L., Chabot N. L., D’Orazio M., Goodrich C., Greshake A., Gross J., Joy K. H., Komatsu M. and Miao B. (2023) The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 111. Meteoritics & Planetary Science 58, 901–904. ?
Find references in NASA ADS:
Find references in Google Scholar:
Geography:

Algeria
Coordinates:Unknown.

Statistics:
     This is 1 of 1336 approved meteorites from Algeria (plus 30 unapproved names) (plus 4 impact craters)
Also see:
  This lists the most popular meteorites among people who looked up this meteorite.
Revision
  history:
  This lists important revisions made to data for this record.

Direct link to this page