A 281-gram piece of the Moon picked up near Ouarzazate sits among the main exhibits at the University Meteorite Museum in Agadir. Researcher Fouad Khiri uses it there to explain how lunar rock ends up on Earth, and why so much of it turns up in Morocco.<\/p>\n
Lunar meteorites are rare. Of roughly 80,000 meteorites known worldwide, only 380 have been identified as coming from the Moon, less than 1% of the total. A significant share of them were discovered in Morocco.<\/p>\n
The specimen on show, Northwest Africa 5406, is classified as a feldspathic breccia, a fragmented rock rich in feldspar. Khiri, a lecturer and researcher specialising in meteoritics at the museum, said its scientific value lies largely in how closely it resembles material collected on the Moon itself during the Apollo 16 mission.<\/p>\n
A dealer recovered the stone near Mount Siksou in Ouarzazate in 2008, according to Khiri, and it has been displayed at the museum since it opened in 2016. Because the precise coordinates of the find were never recorded, it carries a generic regional name rather than one tied to a specific locality.<\/p>\n
“When a meteorite is put forward for classification and naming, a verbal account of where it was found does not carry the same weight as documented coordinates and photographs,” Khiri said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
He warned that the “Northwest Africa” label, followed by a number, can hide a stone’s Moroccan origin, since the designation covers a wider area including Morocco, Mauritania and Algeria. Since 2014, he and other researchers have raised the issue in their publications and worked to document the Moroccan provenance of meteorites registered under that name, which he described as a way of recognising and protecting the Kingdom’s scientific heritage.<\/p>\n
Museum and laboratory<\/h2>\n
Located in the Cit\u00e9 de l’innovation, the museum is run on the scientific side by Khiri and fellow researcher Abderrahmane Ibhi. They host schoolchildren, students, teachers, tourists and astronomy enthusiasts, explaining how different meteorite types form, what sets them apart and what they reveal about the solar system.<\/p>\n
People convinced they have found a meteorite also come through the museum’s doors, from seasoned hunters who comb desert and mountain areas to ordinary citizens bringing in an odd-looking stone. An attached laboratory carries out first checks, starting with the naked eye or a binocular magnifier, which Khiri said is sometimes enough to confirm a meteorite or rule it out as ordinary terrestrial rock.<\/p>\n
Harder cases go to the electron microscope at the Faculty of Sciences of Ibn Zohr University in Agadir. Samples are also sometimes sent to partner laboratories in Italy, Spain or the United States for specialised tests, including isotopic measurements.<\/p>\n
From the Moon to Morocco<\/h2>\n
Khiri traces the story back about 4.5 billion years, when the still-forming Earth collided with Theia, a planetary body roughly the size of present-day Mars. Debris from the impact went into orbit and gradually clumped together under gravity to form the Moon, which he jokingly called “the child of the Earth”.<\/p>\n
The early solar system was far more chaotic than today, he said, with frequent collisions between planets, asteroids and other bodies. Most of the circular features seen in detailed images of the lunar surface are impact craters, not volcanic ones like those on Earth. When an asteroid strikes the Moon, it can eject rock fragments, some of which escape lunar gravity and eventually fall to Earth.<\/p>\n
Identifying them is difficult. Lunar breccias and basalts also occur on Earth, Khiri noted, so finding either rock type does not prove a lunar origin, and only scientific examination can confirm one.<\/p>\n
Why Morocco yields so many<\/h2>\n
Khiri cited three factors. The first is the desert: in dry, sparsely vegetated areas with pale ground, such as the Moroccan Sahara, a dark meteorite stands out more easily than in forest. The second is security and stability, which allow hunters to spend long periods in remote areas, whereas insecurity can make the work difficult or dangerous in other parts of the Sahara.<\/p>\n
The third is the legal framework. Morocco permits prospecting and domestic trade in meteorites, according to Khiri, while exports are subject to conditions, including depositing a reference sample of 20% or 20 grams with the competent authority or museum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lunar meteorite Northwest Africa 5406, found near Ouarzazate, is on show in Agadir. Researcher Fouad Khiri explains its origin and Morocco’s finds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5560],"tags":[6149,6148],"class_list":["post-8510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-design","tag-university-meteorite-museum-agadir","tag-ibn-zohr-university"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t