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A micrometeorite from a stony asteroid identified in Luna 16 soil

Nature Astronomy volume 6, pages 560–567 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Despite the intense cratering history of the Moon, very few traces of meteoritic material have been identified in the more than 380 kg of samples returned to Earth by the Apollo and Luna missions. Here we show that an ~200-µm-sized fragment collected by the Luna 16 mission has extra-lunar origins and probably originates from an LL chondrite with similar properties to near-Earth stony asteroids. The fragment has not experienced temperatures higher than 400 °C since its protolith formed early in the history of the Solar System. It arrived on the Moon, either as a micrometeorite or as the result of the break-up of a bigger impact, no earlier than 3.4 Gyr ago and possibly around 1 Gyr ago, an age that would be consistent with impact ages inferred from basaltic fragments in the Luna 16 sample and of a known dynamic upheaval in the Flora asteroid family, which is thought to be the source of L and LL chondrite meteorites. These results highlight the importance of extra-lunar fragments in constraining the impact history of the Earth–Moon system and suggest that material from LL chondrite asteroids may be an important component.

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Fig. 1: BSE image of Luna 16 soil fragment #443.
Fig. 2: Mineral chemistry of fragment #443.
Fig. 3: Isotope data from Luna 16 fragment #443.
Fig. 4: In situ U–Pb dating of a phosphate in the #443 chondrite fragment.
Fig. 5: Olivine and low-Ca pyroxene composition in fragment #443 compared with H, L and LL chondrites.
Fig. 6: Modal and compositional characteristics of OCs of petrologic types 4–6 and fragment #443.

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Data availability

The data supporting the findings in this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information files. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

We thank F. Kirally (Vienna University) and D. Topa (NHM Vienna) for their help with microprobe analyses. S.I.D. acknowledges the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation under the grant 075-15-2020-780 (N13.1902.21.0039). M.J.W., A.A.N. and R.M. acknowledge support from Swedish Research Council (VR) grants 2017-04151 and 2020-03828. The NordSIMS facility is supported by VR research infrastructure grant 2017-00671; this is NordSIMS publication 704.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, Moscow, Russia

    S. I. Demidova

  2. Department of Geosciences, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden

    M. J. Whitehouse, A. A. Nemchin & G. G. Kenny

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    R. Merle

  4. Department of Applied Geology, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

    A. A. Nemchin

  5. Department of Mineralogy and Petrography, Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria

    F. Brandstätter

  6. Department of Lithospheric Research, Vienna University, Vienna, Austria

    Th. Ntaflos

  7. RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden

    I. Dobryden

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  1. S. I. Demidova
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Contributions

S.I.D. initiated the investigation of the fragment. F.B., Th.N. and S.I.D. conducted the chemical characterization of mineral phases. G.G.K., R.M. and S.I.D. contributed to the SEM mapping of the sample; I.D. performed the Raman analyses. M.J.W. and R.M. conducted the SIMS isotopic studies. S.I.D. produced the first draft of the manuscript. M.J.W., A.A.N. and R.M. contributed writing the final version of the manuscript. All authors were involved in discussion and interpretation of the obtained data.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. I. Demidova.

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Nature Astronomy thanks Josep Trigo-Rodriguez, Thomas Zega and Barbara Cohen for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 FeO versus MnO contents (wt%) in olivine (a) and pyroxene (b) grains from fragment #443 (in red).

The data from lunar rocks (in black)13, Itokawa particles (in blue)11,12,16 and LL chondrites (in yellow)14,15 are shown for comparison. Figure adapted with permission from ref. 13.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Molar Fe/Mn versus Fe/Mg ratios for olivine and low-Ca pyroxene in #443 fragment (in red).

The data from L (in light violet) and LL chondrites (in yellow)28 (average values for each chondrite) and Itokawa particles (in blue)11,12,16 are shown for reference. Figure adapted with permission from ref. 28, John Wiley & Sons.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–4, Tables 1–5 and references.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

Mineral composition summary.

Source Data Fig. 2

SIMS oxygen isotope data.

Source Data Fig. 3

SIMS U–Pb data.

Source Data Fig. 4

Electron microprobe analysis data of some minerals.

Source Data Fig. 5

Modal composition of the fragment.

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Demidova, S.I., Whitehouse, M.J., Merle, R. et al. A micrometeorite from a stony asteroid identified in Luna 16 soil. Nat Astron 6, 560–567 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01623-0

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