12002 - Low-titanium basalt
Collection:
Click the microscope button to view a thin section for this sample.
Microscope
Click the microscope button to view a thin section for this sample.
Microscope

Fact sheet

12002 - Low-titanium basalt

Sample 12002 is medium-grained porphyritic lunar Mare basalt collected by Alan Bean during the Apollo 12 mission. The sample was erupted onto the lunar surface between 3.15 and 3.35 billion years old.

The rock contains phenocrysts of olivine and pyroxene (both augite and pigeonite). The phenocrysts often host melt inclusions (now crystallised as glass) indicating they formed as skeletal crystals and grew to include the melt. The fine-grained groundmass contains intergrown pyroxene and plagioclase feldspar, often forming bundles of radiating needles. Ilmenite is the other readily identifiable species present in thin section. Accessory minerals include chromite inclusions rimmed with ulvospinel and blebs of iron-nickel metal. 

Further details of this and other Apollo samples are here: http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/

Additional images
  • The sampling location for sample 12002
  • The sample was picked up using a special grab device
About this collection

Sample details

Type
igneous
Category
mare basalt
Rock-forming mineral
pyroxene
olivine
Accessory minerals
chromite
ulvospinel
metallic iron
Category guide  
Category Guide
Title
Refers to any word or phrase that appears in the individual rock names. Names are generally descriptive; they allow users to search for broad terms like ‘granite’ as well as more specific names such as ‘breccia’. However, the adjacent descriptions of the specimens captures a wider range of general words and phrases and is a more powerful search tool.
Description
Refers to any word or phrase that appears anywhere in the descriptions of the specimens
Accessory minerals
Minerals that occur in very low abundance in a rock. They are usually not visible with the naked eye and contribute perhapssver, they often dominate the rare elements such as platinum group metals.
Rock-forming minerals
Minerals that make up the bulk of all rock samples and are also the ones used in rock classi?cation.
Timescale
Selecting one or more period, for example 'Jurassic'.
Theme
A term used to group together related samples that are not already gathered into a single Collection. For instance, there is a ‘SW England granites’ theme that includes such rock types as granite, hydrothermal breccia, skarn and vein samples.
Category
A general term used to label a rock sample. It is a useful way of grouping similar samples throughout a collection. Category names are often, but not exclusively, common rock names (e.g. granite, basalt, dolerite, gabbro, greisen, skarn, gneiss, amphibolite, limestone, sandstone).
Owner
The owner of the sample that appears in the collection. For example, NASA owns all the samples that appear in the Moon Rocks collection
We would like to thank the following for the use of this sample: