High crustal diversity preserved in the lunar meteorite Mount DeWitt 12007 (Victoria Land, Antarctica)

• Published in: Meteoritics & Planetary Science
• Main Authors: Collareta, Alberto, D'Orazio, Massimo, Gemelli, Maurizio, Pack, Andreas, Folco, Luigi
• Other Authors: Italian Programma Nazionale delle Ricerche in Antartide
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2016
• Subjects: Space and Planetary Science; Geophysics; Antarc*; Antarctica; Victoria Land
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/maps.12597; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fmaps.12597; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/maps.12597; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/maps.12597

Abstract The meteorite Mount DeWitt ( DEW ) 12007 is a polymict regolith breccia mainly consisting of glassy impact‐melt breccia particles, gabbroic clasts, feldspathic clasts, impact and volcanic glass beads, basaltic clasts, and mingled breccia clasts embedded in a matrix dominated by fine‐grained crystals; vesicular glassy veins and rare agglutinates are also present. Main minerals are plagioclase (typically An >85 ) and clinopyroxene (pigeonites and augites, sometimes interspersed). The presence of tranquillityite, coupled with the petrophysical data, the O‐isotope data (Δ 17 O = −0.075), and the FeO tot /MnO ratios in olivine (91), pyroxene (65), and bulk rock (77) indicate a lunar origin for DEW 12007. Impactites consist of Al‐rich impact‐melt splashes and plagioclase‐rich meta‐melt clasts. The volcanic products belong to the very low titanium ( VLT ) or low titanium ( LT ) suites; an unusual subophitic fragment could be cryptomare‐related. Gabbroic clasts could represent part of a shallow intrusion within a volcanic complex with prevailing VLT affinity. DEW 12007 has a mingled bulk composition with relatively high incompatible element abundances and shows a high crustal diversity comprising clasts from the Moon's major terranes and rare lithologies. First‐order petrographic and chemical features suggest that DEW 12007 could be launch‐paired with other meteorites including Y 793274/981031, QUE 94281, EET 87521/96008, and NWA 4884.