Ash Shaqqah 002        30.304839, 24.71576

Tubruq, Libya      Find: 2024

Classification: Lunar meteorite (troctolitic anorthosite)

History: On October 10, 2024, while a group of Libyan falconry enthusiasts were searching for birds north of the Jaghbub Oasis on the Libyan-Egyptian border, a 12 kg brownish rock on the roadside caught their attention. They took it with them in the hope it might be a meteorite. When news of its lunar origin was confirmed, the falconers returned to the site with family members, and from mid-October through November most sizable masses were located, including specimens which weighed, 10.5,14, 16.6, 18.9, 19.6, 25.9, 32.9, and 45.7 kg. The largest mass, weighing 48.8 kg, was recovered on November 3. Medium-sized and small fragments continued to be found through December, bringing the total weight to 329 kg. Darryl Pitt acquired 317 kg of material of which The Stifler Collection of Meteorites has 259 kg and MMGM has 58 kg. The strewn field is approximately 5 × 3.5 km.

Physical characteristics: These meteorite masses have brown-colored desert-weathered exteriors lacking fusion crust. Saw-cut surfaces reveal a brecciated gray to brown colored interior. Some clasts possess scattered reddish-orange crystals.

Petrography: (C. Agee, UNM) This meteorite is a brecciated troctolitic anorthosite with the following approximate modal abundances: anorthitic plagioclase (80%), olivine (15%), and low-Ca pyroxene (5%). Coarse anorthite grains dominate the mineralogy and most olivine grains are sub-mm in size. This is a monomict breccia with olivine and pyroxene occupying narrow compositional ranges indicating a single, pre-brecciation, plutonic lithology. Shock vugs and vesicles are ubiquitous. Plagioclase crystals often line the vesicle walls. Ubiquitous accessory Fe,Ni-sulfide and kamacite were detected. Orange-colored, altered olivines with low microprobe totals were observed within a number of multiphase clasts in this meteorite. In contrast surrounding domains adjacent to these altered clasts possess fresh, unoxidized metal suggesting that olivine alteration is not related to pervasive desert weathering and instead is more likely to have occurred in the lunar environment prior to the assembly of this breccia.