Question about lunar meteorites

Yes. Lunar meteorites are generally basaltic or feldspar-rich and potentially contain a variety of minerals which will react with acids... but slowly/weakly. Also, a number of lunar meteorites exhibit subsequent deposition of calcite in cracks and fissures arising from terrestrial weathering/alteration and that will react more strongly.

If what lies behind your question is whether or not it's a helpful diagnostic test, the answer is "no". Many terrestrial rocks have similar compositions and would exhibit the same reaction.
 

Last edited:
Yes. Lunar meteorites are generally basaltic or feldspar-rich and potentially contain a variety of minerals which will react with acids... but slowly/weakly. Also, a number of lunar meteorites exhibit subsequent deposition of calcite in cracks and fissures arising from terrestrial weathering/alteration and that will react more strongly.

If what lies behind your question is whether or not it's a helpful diagnostic test, the answer is "no". Many terrestrial rocks have similar compositions and would exhibit the same reaction.
Thanks very clear answer. Found an interresting rock that has allot of glassy shockveins. And it reacts slowly to acid. And it has no trace fossils or fossils at all in it. The matrix looks like a troctolite lunar.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20250102_202309363.jpg
    IMG_20250102_202309363.jpg
    122.5 KB · Views: 11
Last edited:
Disclaimer: I'm not a meteorite expert.

Why do you think this is a meteorite? In your picture, the rock looks like a generic silicate. The lack of fossils doesn't prove anything.

Actual meteorites are very very rare which is the main reason I question your claim in the first place, no offense. Best to take it to a university where a geologist could confirm one way or another.
 

Disclaimer: I'm not a meteorite expert.

Why do you think this is a meteorite? In your picture, the rock looks like a generic silicate. The lack of fossils doesn't prove anything.

Actual meteorites are very very rare which is the main reason I question your claim in the first place, no offense. Best to take it to a university where a geologist could confirm one way or another.
is oke. i will do that.
 

Troctolite is more common on Earth than on the Moon. There are only 14 known lunar meteorites with a troctolitic anorthosite composition. Plus a small non-meteoritic sample of troctolite brought back from the Moon by the Apollo 17 mission.

There’s no indication of scale from your picture, but large crystals like that aren’t seen in meteorites. If it’s crystalline quartz then that only rarely occurs in meteorites in small quantities and not in large enough sizes to be seen with the naked eye. I’m not seeing shock veins, but rather cracking from cooling during crystallisation.

The absence of fossils is meaningless since the rock is clearly igneous rather than sedimentary.
 

Troctolite is more common on Earth than on the Moon. There are only 14 known lunar meteorites with a troctolitic anorthosite composition. Plus a small non-meteoritic sample of troctolite brought back from the Moon by the Apollo 17 mission.

There’s no indication of scale from your picture, but large crystals like that aren’t seen in meteorites. If it’s crystalline quartz then that only rarely occurs in meteorites in small quantities and not in large enough sizes to be seen with the naked eye. I’m not seeing shock veins, but rather cracking from cooling during crystallisation.

The absence of fossils is meaningless since the rock is clearly igneous rather than sedimentary.
The first photo is of a broken chip from the main mass and there are clear veins running troughout the rock and the dark lines you see in the first photo are the veins. but those are hard to capture on camera. here is the main mass or the rock.
 

Attachments

  • 12.jpg
    12.jpg
    133.3 KB · Views: 0
When you would cut a slice of my rock it would look alot like nwa 8687
 

Attachments

  • lm_nwa_08687_26323_1920.jpg
    lm_nwa_08687_26323_1920.jpg
    120.7 KB · Views: 3
going off topic maybe but i found this on the internet, is it genuine: https://www.panspermia.org/zhmur2.htm

Depends on what you mean by 'genuine'.

Brig Klyce is an advocate of the fringe theory of ‘Panspermia’ which proposes that life exists throughout the Universe, distributed by space dust and that organisms such as bacteria, complete with their DNA, could be transported by means such as comets through space to planets including Earth. The theory purports that life did not originate on Earth, but instead evolved elsewhere and seeded life as we know it.

He has an agenda, and note that what you found was published on his own ‘Cosmic Ancestry’ website, not in any reputable mainstream science publications. It would never have passed peer review for such publications. More on 'Cosmic Ancestry' beliefs here:

 

Depends on what you mean by 'genuine'.

Brig Klyce is an advocate of the fringe theory of ‘Panspermia’ which proposes that life exists throughout the Universe, distributed by space dust and that organisms such as bacteria, complete with their DNA, could be transported by means such as comets through space to planets including Earth. The theory purports that life did not originate on Earth, but instead evolved elsewhere and seeded life as we know it.

He has an agenda, and note that what you found was published on his own ‘Cosmic Ancestry’ website, not in any reputable mainstream science publications. It would never have passed peer review for such publications. More on 'Cosmic Ancestry' beliefs here:

oke so no fossils or microfossils on the moon then? And you are sure my rock is igneous or could it be limestone?
 

Attachments

  • 1000008368.jpg
    1000008368.jpg
    85.1 KB · Views: 3
  • 1000008369.jpg
    1000008369.jpg
    78.3 KB · Views: 3
Well, it looks igneous. Definitely not sedimentary, so not limestone.
oke very interesting, i have inserted a new photo of the hole rock. can you tell anything from it how it was formed. the main features are the large stable cracks and what looks like vesicles.
 

Attachments

  • 1000008371.jpg
    1000008371.jpg
    184.2 KB · Views: 3
  • 12.jpg
    12.jpg
    133.3 KB · Views: 3
I’ve long given up on trying to identify most rocks from pictures alone unless they have very obvious distinctive features. All I would say is this.

The appearance is broadly similar to what has become colloquially known as “Manten Stone” and given that name by the Japanese aquarium designer Takashi Amano. Also sometimes called “elephant rock”. Amano popularised its decorative use in aquariums because its holes, nooks and crannies were a haven for small aquatic creatures and algae and it didn’t leach anything noxious into the water.

The term is a non-geological generic for a variety of igneous volcanic rocks (not a single rock type) formed under extreme pressure which have subsequently experienced significant exposure weathering after solidification. The stuff he originally used was from high elevation mountain ranges in Asia, but later users have sourced it principally from Lithuania and the Baltic region. However, it’s just a generic term and various other locations around the world have volcanic rocks of a similar nature in a variety of greyish and fawn hues. Some examples:

Manten1.jpg

Manten2.jpg

Manten3.jpg
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top