Abstract Approximately 25 per cent of the glasses in two Apollo 14 soil samples and in the soils at two levels in the Luna 16 core have compositions equivalent to anorthositic gabbro. Reassessment of the non-mare glass components in the Apollo 11 and 12 soils shows that glasses with the composition of anorthositic gabbro are common to both; gabbroic anorthosite glasses are less common, and anorthositic glasses, rare. Anorthositic gabbro glasses have the same major element composition at all four sites, and resemble the Surveyor 7 analysis from a ‘highland’ site. Thus, strong presumptive evidence exists that material with this specific composition is abundant in the lunar highlands.