header
  MetSoc Home            Publications            Contacts  
Search the Meteoritical Bulletin Database
Last update: 26 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 7402
Basic information Name: Northwest Africa 7402
     This is an OFFICIAL meteorite name.
Abbreviation: NWA 7402
Observed fall: No
Year found: 2010
Country: (Northwest Africa)
Mass:help 4.01 kg
Classification
  history:
Meteoritical Bulletin:  MB 104  (2015)  L3.1
Recommended:  L3.1    [explanation]

This is 1 of 17 approved meteorites classified as L3.1.   [show all]
Search for other: L chondrites, L chondrites (type 3), Ordinary chondrites, and Ordinary chondrites (type 3)
Comments: Approved 24 Jan 2015
Writeuphelp
Writeup from MB 104:

Northwest Africa 7402 (NWA 7402)

(Northwest Africa)

Purchased: 2010 August 26

Classification: Ordinary chondrite (L3.1)

History: NWA 7402 was purchased on August 26, 2010, by Eric Twelker from a meteorite trader in Morocco.

Physical characteristics: A 4013.4 g individual stone, with fusion crust intact and partially rusted. Rust-colored, apparently weathered areas with orange-brown chondrules surround less-weathered regions containing light-gray chondrules set within a darker gray groundmass. The meteorite is a breccia, with occasional clasts of different lithologies present (up to ~5 mm width). The transition from weathered to unweathered lithology is abrupt, and does not correlate with clast boundaries.

Petrography: (C. E. Jilly-Rehak, UH) Transmitted and reflected light optical microscopy reveal a high abundance of chondrules embedded in a clastic, sulfide-rich matrix. Chondrules range from ~0.2 - 2 mm in apparent diameter, and an anomalously large barred olivine chondrule of 8 mm exists in one thin section. Chondrule types found in the meteorite include porphyritic olivine, barred olivine, porphyritic pyroxene, radial pyroxene, and cryptocrystalline. The porphyritic olivine chondrules comprise both type I (Fa<2) and type II (Fa10-25). Fine-grained FeO-rich silicate rims are observed surrounding some (but not all) chondrules. The rims are typically embedded with μm-sized Fe sulfides. The matrix contains abundant Fe,Ni metal and sulfides, as well as chondrule fragments and isolated silicate grains. Large opaque assemblages (~300 μm in diameter) are found in the matrix, containing both kamacite and taenite, Fe sulfides, and Fe oxides. Optical microscopy reveals moderate shock and weathering, corresponding to maximum stages S2 and W2, respectively. The studied sections do not contain any calcium-aluminum inclusions (CAIs), although one aluminous chondrule was found. The pre-weathering metal abundance could have been up to 10.7 wt%, placing the meteorite in the L-chondrite range, also in agreement with the magnetic susceptibility.

Geochemistry: Olivine is highly variable in composition, ranging from Fa<1 to Fa36 (mean, Fa12.9±8.7, N=102). Low-Ca pyroxene is Fs8.4±7.6 (N=71). Cr2O3 in 140 ferroan olivine grains is = 0.41±0.13 wt.%. Separated matrix material (<50 mg) was measured via Raman spectroscopy; peak intensities (I) for the D and G bands have FWHM=181±16 and ID/IG=0.93±0.04.

Classification: Ordinary chondrite (L3.1-anom), S2, W2. It is possibly paired with NWA 5717. Raman spectroscopy of organic matter in the fine-grained matrix indicates that the sample is petrologic type 3.1, plotting within analytical error of Bishunpur. EPMA of chromium contents in olivine shows that NWA 7402 lies between types 3.00 and 3.15, but anomalously falls off the trend for typical UOCs in Grossman and Brearley (2005). However, analyses of control specimens Semarkona and Bishunpur generally agree with the literature values. Furthermore, NWA 7402 has an elevated sulfide abundance (>15 wt%).

Specimens: The main mass of NWA 7402 (3987.9 g) is held by Twelker. The type specimen (25.5 g) is held at UNM.

Bibliography:
  • Grossman J.N. and Brearley A.J. (2005) The onset of metamorphism in ordinary and carbonaceous chondrites. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 40, 87-122. (link)
Data from:
  MB104
  Table 0
  Line 0:
Place of purchase:Morocco
Date:P 2010 August 26
Mass (g):4013.4
Pieces:1
Class:L3.1
Shock stage:S2
Weathering grade:W2
Fayalite (mol%):12.9±8.7 (N=102)
Ferrosilite (mol%):8.4 ±7.6 (N=71)
Wollastonite (mol%):1.68 ±3.61 (N=71)
Magnetic suscept.:4.49
Classifier:C.E. Jilly-Rehak, UH and E. Twelker
Type spec mass (g):25.5
Type spec location:UNM
Main mass:Twelker
Comments:Submitted by Christine E. Jilly-Rehak
Institutions
   and collections
UH: Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai'i, 2525 Correa Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, United States (institutional address; updated 25 Oct 2011)
UNM: Institute of Meteoritics MSC03 2050 University of New Mexico Albuquerque NM 87131-1126 USA, United States; Website (institutional address; updated 12 Feb 2015)
Twelker: Eric Twelker, P.O. Box 844, Port Townsend, WA 98368, United States; Website (private address; updated 1 Dec 2014)
Catalogs:
References: Published in Meteoritical Bulletin, no. 104, MAPS 52, 2284, Octover 2017, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/maps.12930/full
Find references in NASA ADS:
Find references in Google Scholar:
Geography: 
Coordinates:Unknown.

Statistics:
     This is 1 of 9627 approved meteorites from (Northwest Africa) (plus 1865 unapproved names)
Crosslinks:
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