Official Meteoritical Bulletin entry for Northwest Africa 3136:
Northwest Africa 3136 Algeria or Morocco Purchased 2004 April Lunar meteorite (basaltic regolith breccia)
An oriented 95.1 g shield-shaped stone with partial thin, pale brown fusion crust found in Algeria or
Morocco was purchased in Tagounite by a Moroccan dealer for A. and G. Hupé (xHupé)
in 2004 April. The specimen has a thin, dark weathering varnish, but the
interior is a very fresh, black, hard, vitreous-looking rock with small white
to yellowish clasts. Classification and mineralogy (S. Kuehner and A.
Irving, UWS): Polymict breccia consisting of mineral and lithic
clasts derived predominantly from mare basalt and mare microgabbro lithologies,
and additionally some highlands clasts, in a very fine grained, mostly
crystalline and partly vitreous, vesicular matrix. Mineral clasts include
calcic plagioclase (An86-97), pyroxenes (orthopyroxene, ferropigeonite,
ferrosilite, pyroxferroite; FeO/MnO = 68.9-75.8), olivine (mostly Fa30-43, but
ranging to nearly pure fayalite; FeO/MnO = 81.9-94.2), ilmenite, Ni-poor Fe
metal, troilite, Cr-bearing ulvöspinel, and rare pentlandite, baddeleyite, and
a Ce-Ca-Fe-bearing, Zr-rich titanate (probably zirconolite). A further
description can be found in (Kuehner et al., 2005). Bulk compositions
(R. Korotev, WUSL): INAA of several subsamples indicate that this
specimen is dominated by mare components with ~20% lunar highland components
(Korotev and Irving, 2005). Oxygen isotopes (D. Rumble, CIW): analyses
of two whole rock fragments by laser fluorination gave
δ18O =
+5.83, 5.96, δ17O =
+3.06, 3.10, Δ17O = -0.03, -0.05 per mil, respectively.
Specimens: type specimens, 19.5 g, two polished thin sections, and one polished
mount, UWS; main mass, xHupé.
O’Donnell S. P., Jolliff B. L., Zeigler R. A., and Korotev R. L.
(2008) Identifying the mafic components in lunar regolith breccia NWA 3136 (abstract).
In Lunar and Planetary Science XXXIX, abstract no. 2507,
39th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston. http://meteorites.wustl.edu/abstracts/lpsc39/a_l08o01.pdf
Nishiizumi K. and Caffee M. W.
(2006) Constraining the number of lunar and martian meteorite falls (abstract).
In Meteorit. Planet. Sci.41, p. A133,
69th Annual Meeting, Meteoritical Society. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/metsoc2006/pdf/5368.pdf
Korotev R. L and Irving A. J.
(2005) Compositions of three lunar meteorites: Meteorite Hills 01210,
Northeast Africa 001, and Northwest Africa 3136 (abstract).
In Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVI, abstract no. 1220,
36th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2005/pdf/1220.pdf
Kuehner S.M., Irving A.J., Rumble D., III, Hupé A.C., and Hupé G.M.
(2005) Mineralogyand petrology of lunar meteorite NWA 3136:
A glass-welded mare regolith breccia of mixed heritage (abstract).
In Lunar Planet. Sci. XXXVI, abstract no. 1228,
Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2005/pdf/1228.pdf