[meteorite-list] AD: Special: New & Truly Unique Lunar NWA 4898 - Youngest Basalt, no such material known so far.

[Martin Altmann]

Dear collectors,

since NWA 4898 was introduced on the last Lunar and Planetary Science
conference in Houston last March, 
the specialists impatiently were asking, when Chladni's Heirs will finally
will make this storming material available.
The time of waiting was well worth, today we will set up a set of slices for
sale!
- also for those, planning their budgets for Ensisheim, being able to take
advantage of that offer right now at a preferential price.

NWA 4898

is in short words a truly unique and unpaired new basaltic lunaite. 
And not only we consider this Moon to be though not the largest but probably
our best recovery in more than 8 years of intensively searching the NWA
market, 
because it is a meteorite of a very high scientific interest and a
significant importance, 
which is already well studied by many researchers around the World.

NWA 4898 represents a so far un-sampled type of lunar basalt.
Already its macroscopic texture evidently separates NWA 4898 from all other
lunar rocks.
The structures looking like a frost pattern indicate an instantaneous
crystallization and therefore NWA 4898 is suggested to have rapidly cooled
either directly after an eruption 
or in a shallow lava stream on the very surface of the Moon.

With a crystallization age of only 3.578 Ga, NWA 4898 falls in the very late
phase of geologic activity of the Moon.

Therefore Chladni's Heirs close the circle:  
>From the ancient KREEP-bearing relic basalt NWA 4485 to the NWA 4898 as the
quite youngest basalt ever.

No desert, nor any Antarctic find, neither any of the Apollo samples
resembles NWA 4898.

Please find detailed and elaborate information about NWA 4898 in these both
abstracts

Greshake, Irving, Kuehner, Korotev et al.:  
Northwest Africa NWA 4898:  A New High-Alumina Mare Basalt from the Moon
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2008/pdf/1631.pdf

and
Gaffney, Borg, DePaolo, Irving:
Age and Isotope Systematics of Northwest Africa 4898, a New Type of
Highly-Depleted Mare Basalt
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2008/pdf/1877.pdf


not to forget the pages about NWA 4898 on R.Korotev's well-known
Lunar-Meteorites-Site:
http://meteorites.wustl.edu/lunar/stones/nwa4898.htm


A little correction we have to add to the data of the official entry in the
Meteoritical Bulletin:  2007 is the year of purchase and not the year of
find. NWA 4898 was found in Sahara desert in 2005/2006.
Since then our stone is the only mass till today.

 
On our special-page we have listed a good variety of slices and partslices.
In listing different sizes, from museum grade fullslices to smaller
specimens below $500, we tried to meet the needs of all types of collectors.
But please note, that with 137grams the tkw is very limited.

We decided to keep the specimens affordable for the list-members, in pricing
the specimens at 1900$/g. Later we will have a regular price, which will
reflect more adequately the uniqueness of this material.

http://www.chladnis-heirs.com/special-nwa4898.html


And now it's up to you to take your choice 
of your share of this solitaire among the lunar rocks and soils.


Best Regards,

Stefan Ralew & Martin Altmann
Chladni's Heirs
Munich - Berlin
Fine Meteorites for Science & Collectors