Fact sheet
14305 is a clast-rich polymict breccia with a fine-grained microcrystalline matrix. The sample was collected 80 metres from the Lunar Lander Module and has been dated at 3.82 billion years. The specimen is a composite of soil, rock and mineral fragments welded into a breccia, that was probably part of the Fra Mauro formation, named after the 80 kilometer-diameter crater, and the landing site of the Apollo 14 mission.
In thin section, most of the clasts are microbreccias, although clasts of mare basalt, granite, gabbronorite, anorthosite and troctolite are also present. Several impact events are required to explain the textures observed since the breccia fragments formed in earlier events and were rebrecciated and incorporated in the present rock. The final thermal event produced a melted matrix but it was not hot enough to digest the various lithic clasts.
Further details of this and other Apollo samples are here: http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/
The Apollo 14 landing site was in a region formed by impact-basin debris.
Most of the 42 kilograms of rocks and soil collected on Apollo 14 are breccias (rocks that are composed of fragments of other, older rocks). In some cases, the rock fragments that form a breccia are themselves breccias. Such rocks obviously have experienced complex histories with multiple generations of impact events. Some breccias were heated enough that some of the material in the rock was melted.
Apollo 14 was launched on 31 January 1971.
