Alexander, Louise and Snape, Joshua F. and Crawford, Ian and Joy, K.H. and Downes, Hilary (2014) Searching for nonlocal lithologies in the Apollo 12 regolith: a geochemical and petrological study of basaltic coarse fines from the Apollo lunar soil sample 12023,155. Meteoritics & Planetary Science 49 (7), pp. 1288-1304. ISSN 1086-9379.
|
Text
11020.pdf - Author's Accepted Manuscript Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial. Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
New data from a petrological and geochemical examination of 12 coarse basaltic fines from the Apollo 12 soil sample 12023,155 provide evidence of additional geochemical diversity at the landing site. In addition to the bulk chemical composition, major, minor, and trace element analyses of mineral phases are employed to ascertain how these samples relate to the Apollo 12 lithological basalt groups, thereby overcoming the problems of representativeness of small samples. All of the samples studied are low-Ti basalts (0.9–5.7 wt% TiO2), and many fall into the established olivine, pigeonite, and ilmenite classification of Apollo 12 basaltic suites. There are five exceptions: sample 12023,155_1A is mineralogically and compositionally distinct from other Apollo 12 basalt types, with low pigeonite REE concentrations and low Ni (41–55 ppm) and Mn (2400–2556 ppm) concentrations in olivine. Sample 12023,155_11A is also unique, with Fe-rich mineral compositions and low bulk Mg# (=100 × atomic Mg/[Mg+Fe]) of 21.6. Sample 12023,155_7A has different plagioclase chemistry and crystallization trends as well as a wider range of olivine Mg# (34–55) compared with other Apollo 12 basalts, and shows greater similarities to Apollo 14 high-Al basalts. Two other samples (12023,155_4A, and _5A) are similar to the Apollo 12 feldspathic basalt 12038, providing additional evidence that feldspathic basalts represent a lava flow proximal to the Apollo 12 site rather than material introduced by impacts. We suggest that at least one parent magma, and possibly as many as four separate parent magmas, are required in addition to the previously identified olivine, pigeonite, and ilmenite basaltic suites to account for the observed chemical diversity of basalts found in this study.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | This is the peer reviewed version of the article, which has been published in final form at the link above. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving. |
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Natural Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Administrator |
| Date Deposited: | 19 Nov 2014 16:30 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:13 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/11020 |
Statistics
Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.
Archive Staff Only (login required)
