LUN  - Mare Basalts The members of this group are mare basalts, consisting of phenocrysts of olivine and augite, set within a fine-grained matrix of plagioclase and pyroxene. The accessory minerals include chromite, ilmenite, apatite, troilite, and minor nickel-iron metal. Lunar mare basalts are much younger than the anorthositic highland rocks. They were formed during volcanic eruptions within large basins, mostly located on the near side of the Moon, their shapes delineating the imaginary face of the "Man in the Moon". Large portions of this pristine basaltic crust have been transformed into a regolith by ongoing meteorite bombardment. Consequently, most LUN B members are mare basalt regolith breccias, e.g., the Antarctic lunaites Yamato 793274, Yamato 981031, and QUE 94281. Similarly, most other mare basalts are also heavily brecciated, containing notable regolith portions. Still, there is one unbrecciated member known - the pristine mare basalt NWA 032, and its pairing NWA 479. The latter meteorite was recovered by our team near Khter n'Ait Khebbach, Morocco, in November 2000, and is one of our most unusual finds. Recent research suggests that this unique mare basalt crystallized just 2.8 billion years ago, providing evidence for a prolonged lunar volcanism and making this one of the youngest lunar basalts analyzed so far.    NWA 479 Lunar Mare basalt Found 11/00, Morocco  TKW : 156 gr A rare lunar rock   Name: Found: TKW: Type: Comment: Available:   NWA 479 Nov. 2000, Morocco 156 g Unique Lunar Mare Basalt Khter n'Ait Khebbach  Slices, end cut   NWA 479 - 07 3.964 gr Very nice thick slice of this rare type of Lunar !!! Price on request NWA 479 - 08 0.128 gr Very thin and superb slice ! SOLD NWA 479 - 09 0.082 gr  Thin slice with patch of crust ! SOLD NWA 479 - 10 0.042 gr  Very nice and thin slice with patch of crust ! SOLD NWA 479 - 11 0.086 gr Nice and thin slice of Lunar Mare basalt ! SOLD NWA 479 - 12 0.070gr Nice triangular slice of Lunar ! SOLD

LUN Group - Lunar Meteorites

The LUN group is a most intriguing class of achondrites since its members represent different types of lunar rocks, i.e., genuine pieces of the Moon. Scientists have speculated for centuries about the possibility that some of the meteorites in our collections might actually be of lunar origin, and some researchers even believed the enigmatic tektites were the products of major volcanic eruptions on the Moon. Finally, with the return of lunar samples by the Apollo and Luna missions in the 1960's and 1970's, it was thought that a definitive test for these ideas was now available. However, subsequent comparisons yielded no match to either tektites or any group of achondrites, and it would take an additional decade before the first lunar meteorite would be identified.

In the late 1970's, Japanese and American researchers recognized the ice fields of Antarctica as a promising hunting ground for meteorites, with the subsequent recovery of thousands of new meteorites; among these, several lunar meteorites, or "lunaites", have been identified. These are mostly small stones resembling certain samples returned by the Apollo missions. In 1990, a small stone weighing just 19 grams was found in Calcalong Creek, Australia. It was thereafter recognized as the first non-Antarctic lunaite. During the past four years, professional meteorite hunters have recovered several more lunaites from the hot deserts of Africa and Oman. Today, the LUN group comprises about 25 members, excluding all probable pairings, with a total known weight of about 8.5 kg (have a look at our list of lunar meteorites).

Lunar meteorites are of major scientific importance because they probably originate from areas of the Moon that were not sampled by the Apollo or Luna missions. Most lunaites in our collections obviously have been blasted from the lunar highlands that cover the far side of the Moon. Only a few lunar meteorites have their origin from the smooth lowlands, the maria of the near side, which served as the preferred landing sites for the Apollo missions. Four different types of lunar rocks have been sampled in the form of meteorites thus far: anorthositic highland rocks (LUN A), mare basalts (LUN B), mare gabbros (LUN G), and a unique lunar norite (LUN N), representing the deep, olivine-rich layers of the lunar crust. All of these meteorites share the typical features of lunar rocks, e.g., similar manganese to iron ratios, and oxygen isotopic compositions that plot on the terrestrial fractionation line. We will discuss each group of lunar meteorites below.