Hapkeite

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Hapkeite is a mineral discovered in the Dhofar 280 meteorite found in 2000 in Oman on the Arabian peninsula. The meteorite is interpreted to be a fragment of lunar highland breccia from the moon. Hapkeite's composition is of silicon and iron, and is similar to other silicon-iron minerals found on Earth. On the moon an impact is thought to launched the partially molton or vaporized material into orbit.

Due to its 1:2 composition of silicon-iron, hapkeite was given the chemical formula Fe₂Si. It occurs as opaque, yellowish to silvery microscopic isometric crystals.

It is named after University of Pittsburgh scientist Bruce Hapke, who predicted the presence and importance of vapour-deposited coatings on lunar soil grains about 30 years ago.

[edit] References

• Lunar and Planetary Science XXXIV (2003) PDF format.
• Space weathering on airless planetary bodies: Clues from the lunar mineral hapkeite 2004 PNAS
• Mindat data
• Webmineral data