NWA 6950 Lunar Gabbro Meteorite

A meteorite thin section from The Curchin Collection

What is NWA 6950?

The NWA 6950 meteorite was reportedly found June 2011 near the border between Mali and Algeria in the Sahara desert. This lunar meteorite has coarser mineral grains, which indicate it originally cooled more slowly at depth. It is paired with NWA 2977 which was found in 2005, and the composition is similar to gabbroic clasts found in numerous other brecciated lunar meteorites.

Research completed on NWA 6950 and the other pairings, named the NWA 773 clan, has determined the age of these meteorites to be 3.1 billion years old.

Under the Microscope

In transmitted, cross-polarized light, this colorful lunar thin section is mainly composed of olivine and pyroxene. Like many other lunar meteorites, plagioclase has been partially converted to maskelynite. Maskelynite occurs due to shock-induced melting and quenching and can be partial or complete. Look for black areas in our design that have some mottled white to grey colors to find maskelynite.