Northwest Africa 11601 (NWA 11601)

Algeria

Purchased: 2016 May 1

Classification: HED achondrite (Eucrite)

History: Purchased by Miao Bing-an in 2016 in Morocco.

Physical characteristics: The meteorite has pitted irregular surfaces and is light to dark gray to pale brown in overall color. Most of the stones have partial coatings of greenish to whitish lichens.

Petrography (L. Huang, B. Miao, H. Chen, GUT): This meteorite is a pigeonite-plagioclase rock with fine to medium grain size. Breccia composed of mineral and lithic fragments set in a fine-grained, generally fragmental matrix. Lithic clasts are generally subophitic with fine to medium-grained (~0.1-0.4 mm) pyroxenes and skeletal plagioclase grains and a fine-grained mesostasis. A silica phase is commonly present. Accessories are ilmenite, chromite, troilite and rare iron metal.

Geochemistry (L. Huang, B. Miao, H. Chen, GUT): Bulk pyroxene: Fe/Mn=32.1. Low-Ca pyroxene of basaltic lithologies: median compositions are Mg#=38.2, Fs_57.1Wo_5.6 (n=16). High-Ca pyroxene of basaltic lithologies: median compositions are Mg#=37.5, Fs_45.5Wo_27.5 (n=13). Plagioclase: An_85.2-87.7Or_0.5-1.3, median An_86.3Or_0.9 (n=14).

Classification: Basaltic unbrecciated eucrite

Specimens: 8.4 g and polished thin section are deposited in GUT