LITHOLOGIC DIVERSITY WITHIN LUNAR REGOLITH BRECCIA METEORITE NORTHWEST AFRICA 8783: CLASTS 2 & 5

Lunar meteorite Northwest Africa (NWA) 8783 was found in Morocco in 2014 and is classified as a feldspathic regolith breccia; the sample is composed of several glass veins with an extremely fine grained matrix containing different mineral and lithic clasts. Few studies have conducted detailed examinations of the sample, and the goal of this study is to classify the lithologic clasts contained within NWA 8783 as a proxy for the diversity of lithologies on the Moon. This abstract is part of a larger study, with two companion abstracts presented in this volume (see Recchuiti et al. and Utterback et al.). Using petrographic analysis, we selected representative lithologic clasts within the meteorite on which to collect chemical data using the Cameca SX 100 Electron Microprobe (EMP) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; backscattered electron and X-ray maps were also collected. In this abstract we will only be discussing the findings of Clast 2 and Clast 5. Clast 2 is ~250 x 500 microns, and composed of olivine (Fo75.2-77.4), pigeonite (Wo5.6-8.0 En70.4-74.0 Fs19.4-21.6), and plagioclase (avg An 91.3). Preliminary data suggests that the clast is chemically similar to the lunar Mg-suite (e.g., An91.3 and avg Mg# of mafic minerals ~ 77.2). Clast 5 (~750 x 1000 microns) is also composed of olivine, pigeonite, and plagioclase, but the mafic phases are slightly less magnesian (Fo72.7 and Wo7.8 En68.4 Fs23.9) and the plagioclase is more calcic (An94.8) than Clast 2. Nonetheless, Clast 5 is also chemically similar to the lunar Mg-suite. The data collected from Clast 2 and Clast 5 are preliminary; more chemical analyses are being collected, along with additional X-ray maps to aid in determining the modal mineralogy for more precise classification.