15427 (82) Green Glass Clods
Collection:
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Fact sheet

15427 (82) Green Glass Clods

Two large, greenish, friable clods found at Spur Crater were placed in a documented bag and returned. When the bag was opened, these friable clods were found broken into several pieces with considerable loose “soil” partially derived from the breakup of the clods. The surviving clods were grouped and numbered 15425, 15426 and 15427. The green glass clods are partially light-greenish-grey and partly greyish-brown – it is the greener parts that have been studied. The clods are blocky and very friable, with average particle size less than 0.1 mm. The grey portions appear to be regolith breccia, with admixed basalt fragments. Some beads form composite aggregates, indicating collision while molten in the volcanic plume. Most beads have a distinct texture of micromounds due to a surface coating of condensed volatiles. The green glass beads generally lack bubbles, but more than 20 vesicle-bearing volcanic glass beads are reported from 15427. Fine-featured olivine microlites criss-cross many of the beads - they formed during quenching. Red and yellow-brown volcanic glass is also present.

The combined sample weighed ~500 grams before analysis and is 3.38±0.06 billion years old (Ar/Ar measurement with smallest error quoted).

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

Additional images
  • Green glass beads 40-250 microns across (Carusi et al. 1972)
About this collection

The Apollo 15 landing site was in the Apennine Highlands, and close to Hadley Rille — a long, narrow winding valley. Approximately 76 kg of lunar material, including soil, rock, core-tube and deep-core samples, were returned to Earth.

This mission was the first flight of the Lunar Roving Vehicle which allowed the astronauts to venture further from the Lunar Module than in previous missions. During three periods of extravehicular activity, or EVA, on July 31st, and August 1st and 2nd, Scott and Irwin completed a record 18 hours, 37 minutes of exploration, travelling 17.5 miles, in the first car that humans had ever driven on the Moon.

Apollo 15 was launched on 26 July 1971.

Sample details

Collection: Apollo 15
Type
metamorphic
Rock-forming mineral
olivine
pyroxene
plagioclase
feldspar
glass
Accessory minerals
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
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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
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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
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We would like to thank the following for the use of this sample: