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Encyclopedia of Lunar Science pp 1–4Cite as

Lunar Meteorites

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A lunar meteorite is a rock that was ejected from the Moon, was orbiting the sun or Earth for a long time, was eventually captured by Earth’s gravitational field, and fell to Earth through the atmosphere as a solid object. Lunar provenance is proven for the meteorites by a variety of evidence, but the single most useful constraint comes from oxygen isotopes (Clayton and Mayeda 1996).

Among the collected meteorites at present, lunar meteorites are very rare (~0.1%). As of this writing, the total mass of recovered lunar meteorites listed in the Meteoritical Bulletin Database was only ~104.1 Kg. Most of the lunar meteorites have been found in hot desert of Oman and northern African (Fig. 1), where the climatic conditions are suitable for the preservation of meteorites. In addition, expeditions funded by the US (the Antarctic Search for Meteorite, ANSMET) and Japanese (NIPR) governments have collected many lunar meteorites in the region of Antarctica. The first lunar meteorite (Allan...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Lunar and Deep Space Exploration, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China

    Qin Zhou

  2. National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China

    Qin Zhou

Authors
  1. Qin Zhou
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Correspondence to Qin Zhou .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Prairie View A&M University, Houston, Texas, USA

    Brian Cudnik

Section Editor information

  1. Key Laboratory of Lunar and Deep-space Exploration, Chinese Academy of Science, 100012, Beijing, PR China

    Yuanzhi Zhang Dr.

  2. College of Geo-exploration Science and Technology, Jinlin University, Changchun, PR China

    Shengbo Chen Dr.

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Zhou, Q. (2017). Lunar Meteorites. In: Cudnik, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Lunar Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05546-6_58-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05546-6_58-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-05546-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-05546-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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