79195 (11) Regolith Breccia
Collection:
Apollo 17
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MicroscopeFact sheet
79195 (11) Regolith Breccia
79195 is a weakly lithified polymict breccia with a large clast of mare basalt. It has not been studied. Rotation 1 shows a highland gabbro fragment and a devitrified glass clast consisting of feathery crystallites. Rotation 2 shows a gabbroic clast and a relatively large clast of untwinned feldspar (or quartz?). Brown glass is also common in the dark, glassy groundmass. The sample weighed 368.5 grams before analysis and is 4.330±0.064 billion years old (Sm/Nd). Further details of this and other Apollo samples are here: http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/ |
About this collection
Apollo 17, the final manned landing mission, had two objectives: to obtain samples of ancient rocks from the lunar highlands and to look for evidence of younger volcanic activity on the valley floor.
This small Collection contains material deriving from both periods, including igneous rocks around 4.3 billion years old from the lunar highlands as well as younger volcanic samples dating from about 3.6 billion years ago.
Apollo 17 was launched on 7 December 1972.