[meteorite-list] First Lunar Meteorite

From: almitt <almitt_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:41:53 2004
Message-ID: <3A55E3F1.EAF6823A_at_kconline.com>

Hi Greg and all,

The title of your post peaked my curiosity. Though brother Bob's meteorite was the
first lunar meteorite found outside of Antarctica, Allan Hills (ALHA81005) was the
first confirmed lunar meteorite ever to be found. This lead the way for us to examine
and be able to accept there could be Mars meteorites and also re-think the collision
dynamics for delivery of such specimens. Its only been about 19 years since its
discovery! The discovery was one of luck, as the snowmobile driver recognized the
specimen as probably being meteoritic in nature and made a quick stop to pick the
specimen up as the weather there was turning bad fast and they needed to get back to
the safety of their shelter. The specimen was the last one collected in the 81-2 field

season.

The piece is small but loaded with very interesting white anorthosite clasts in a dark

matrix. Very similar regolith breccia's were returned from the moon by the Apollo
astronauts. The best clue of lunar origin is from the chemistry and the manganese to
iron ratio found in them. Very different from terrestrial basalts.

I know your are simply asking for the Nature Article (which my post doesn't answer
:-( but thought others might like to hear about the Allan Hills Specimen. Best to
all!

--AL
Received on Fri 05 Jan 2001 10:10:42 AM PST