LUNAR ROCK - Northwest Africa 998 NAKHLITE MARTIAN METEORITE

Northwest Africa 998 Nakhlite Martian Meteorite

Complete slice of NWA 998.

Article about NWA 998:
Hupé, G.M., (2002) Quest for Planetary meteorites (article). On Nature’s Vault, Inc. web site:
Click here to read about our aquisition of NWA 998

Official Meteoritical Bulletin entry for Northwest Africa 998:

Northwest Africa 998
     Algeria or Morocco
     Purchased 2001 September
     Martian meteorite (nakhlite)

A. and G. Hupé (xHupé) purchased, from dealers at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show in 2002 February, the main mass from a 456 g stone that had been acquired at an unspecified site in western Algeria or eastern Morocco in 2001 September. Dimensions before cutting: 72 mm by 65 mm by 48 mm. Classification and mineralogy (A. Irving and S. Kuehner, UWS): a friable, dark green rock with minor orange-brown alteration products that probably are of pre-terrestrial origin. It is composed mainly of subhedral, olive-green, complexly zoned subcalcic augite (Fs22Wo39) with subordinate yellow olivine (Fa64), orthopyroxene (Fs49Wo4), interstitial plagioclase (Ab61Or4 containing 0.1 wt% SrO, and exhibiting normal birefringence), titanomagnetite, chlorapatite and pyrrhotite. The overall texture is that of a hypabyssal, adcumulate igneous rock, and the apparent crystallization sequence is olivine, orthopyroxene, titanomagnetite, augite, apatite, plagioclase. There is a weak preferred orientation of prismatic pyroxene crystals, many of which have very distinctive zoning, with cores of augite surrounded by irregular, inverted pigeonite rims (now consisting of orthopyroxene with fine augite lamellae). Trains of tiny melt inclusions are present along healed fractures within pyroxene; microprobe study confirms that most of these are K-Na-Al-bearing silicate glass, but some are intergrowths of glass and Fe-bearing carbonate, which may represent quenched immiscible silicate-carbonate liquids. Symplectitic intergrowths of titanomagnetite and low-Ca pyroxene are present at grain boundaries between large, discrete olivine and titanomagnetite grains, but are not present around chromian titanomagnetite inclusions within olivine. These observations suggest that a pre-terrestrial oxidation process produced the symplectites, and involved high temperature, deuteric fluid infiltration along grain boundaries; such fluids also may have produced the irregular pigeonitic rims on augite crystals. Secondary (probably pre-terrestrial) ankeritic carbonate, K-feldspar (some Fe-bearing), serpentine (?), calcite and a Ca sulfate are present on grain boundaries and within cracks in augite. Oxygen isotope composition (D. Rumble, CIW): replicate analyses of acid-washed augite by laser fluorination gave δ¹⁸O = +3.9 ± 0.2‰; δ¹⁷O = +2.4 ± 0.1‰; ∆¹⁷O = +0.30 ± 0.02‰. Specimens: type specimens, 20 g, UWS, 20 g, FMNH, and two polished thin sections, UWS; main mass, xHupé.

Scientific abstracts and news regarding NWA 998:

New meteorite clues to life on Mars
SkyMania.com April 30, 2010
Scientists believe they may have found fresh evidence of life on Mars in a meteorite that crashed to Earth. Microscopic strands were revealed inside the space rock, labeled NWA 998 when it was examined at the University of Toronto, Canada.
http://www.skymania.com/wp/2010/04/new-meteorite-clues-to-life-on-mars.html/

SIMS ANALYSIS OF VOLATILES AND H ISOTOPE STUDIES OF THE NAKHLITES YAMATO 000593 (Y000593) AND NORTH WEST AFRICA 998 (NWA998)
Lunar and Planetary Science [Meeting] XXXVI (2005)
http://207.56.99.163/lunarPlanetarySciencexxxvi1751.pdf

TRACE ELEMENT GEOCHEMISTRY OF NEW NAKHLITES FROM THE ANTARCTIC AND THE SAHARAN DESERT: FURTHER CONSTRAINTS ON NAKHLITE PETROGENESIS ON MARS
Lunar and Planetary Science
Conference. March 17 - 21, 2003
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2003/pdf/2075.pdf

TUNGSTEN ISOTOPIC COMPOSITIONS OF THE SNC METEORITES: FURTHER IMPLICATIONS FOR EARLY DIFFERENTIATION HISTORY OF MARS
Sixth International Conference on Mars, 2003
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/sixthmars2003/pdf/3163.pdf

PETROLOGY AND ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION OF ORTHOPYROXENE-BEARING NAKHLITE NWA 998
65th Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting. July 2002.
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/metsoc2002/pdf/5225.pdf

Mars meteorites reunited after long split
CNN.com/Space article about NWA 998 and NWA 1195. May 15, 2002
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/05/15/mars.meteorites/index.html

Two More Unique Martian Meteorites Found In Africa (NWA 998 and NWA 1195)
by Dr. Tony Irving, May 9, 2002
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/snc/news48.html

134.6 gram main mass of NWA 998 - View 1.		134.6 gram main mass of NWA 998 - View 2.

28 gram wedge-shaped specimen of NWA 998.		Description coming Soon!

Description coming Soon!		Description coming Soon!