Dhofar 1983 (Dho 1983)        18°42.682’N, 54°9.438’E

Zufar, Oman

Found: Jan 2011

Classification: Lunar meteorite (feldspathic breccia)

Physical characteristics: Dark brown fusion crust with an orange tint covers the sample. Fracture surfaces have light orange colorations due to minor weathering. Cut section shows a clast-rich gray interior with white and gray clasts ranging from 0.5 to 10 mm in diameter. There are no obvious signs of oxidation of the interior with the exception a single orange veinlet.

Petrography: (P. Strickland and C. Herd, UAb). Petrographic microscope examination of thin section. Dominated by ferroan anorthosite and less frequent gabbroic clasts embedded in two distinct matrices. Melt breccia clasts up to 1 cm across are present, as are much smaller mineral fragments of pyroxene and less commonly, olivine. Glassy spherules approximately 100 μm are also present. Clasts and spherules are embedded in either a lighter, devitrified fine-grained matrix, or a less abundant, darker, glassy melt matrix. A preferred orientation of clasts is not observed. Very few fractures are present, indicating low shock deformation. Minimal presence of calcite veins and oxidation indicate low weathering grade.

Geochemistry: EPMA examination of carbon-coated thin sections (C. Herd and P. Strickland, UAb; T. Theye, UStutt; P. Hill, UWO): Olivine Fa_20.0-45.8 (n=28); low-Ca pyroxene Fs_16.2-82.4Wo_2.6-19.3 (n=30); augite Fs_10.3-57.8Wo_17.6-43.6 (n=26); plagioclase An_90.6-98.3 (n=53). Bulk composition (R. Korotev, WUSL): INAA of subsamples give mean abundances of (in wt.%) FeO 5.6, Na₂O 0.369, CaO 15.2, and (in ppm) Sc 11.7, La 2.3, Sm 1.17, Eu 0.79, Yb 1.01, and Th 0.37. Oxygen isotopic composition (A. Ali and N. Banerjee, UWO): δ¹⁷O = 2.6±0.3 ‰, δ¹⁸O = 5.1±0.5 ‰, Δ¹⁷O = -0.03±<0.01 ‰ (n=2; unleached specimens).

Classification: Achondrite, lunar feldspathic regolith breccia.

Specimens: 11.4 g type specimen, including polished thin section and 0.3 g bulk powdered sample, are on deposit at UAb. A 0.55 g slice of the type specimen was used for INAA by Korotev. Remainder at SQU.