Calzada-diaz, Abigail and Joy, K.H. and Crawford, Ian and Strekopytov, S. (2017) The petrology, geochemistry, and age of lunar regolith breccias Miller Range 090036 and 090070: insights into the crustal history of the Moon. Meteoritics & Planetary Science 52 (1), pp. 3-23. ISSN 1086-9379.
|
Text
16613.pdf - Author's Accepted Manuscript Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial. Download (2MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Meteorites ejected from the surface of the Moon as a result of impact events are an important source of lunar material in addition to Apollo and Luna samples. Here, we report bulk element composition, mineral chemistry, age, and petrography of Miller Range (MIL) 090036 and 090070 lunar meteorites. MIL 090036 and 090070 are both anorthositic regolith breccias consisting of mineral fragments and lithic clasts in a glassy matrix. They are not paired and represent sampling of two distinct regions of the lunar crust that have protoliths similar to ferroan anorthosites. 40Ar-39Ar chronology performed on two subsplits of MIL 090070,33 (a pale clast impact melt and a dark glassy melt component) shows that the sample underwent two main degassing events, one at ~3.88 Ga and another at ~3.65 Ga. The cosmic ray exposure data obtained from MIL 090070 are consistent with a short (~8–9 Ma) exposure close to the lunar surface. Bulk-rock FeO, TiO2, and Th concentrations in both samples were compared with 2-degree Lunar Prospector Gamma Ray Spectrometer (LP-GRS) data sets to determine areas of the lunar surface where the regolith matches the abundances observed on the sample. We find that MIL 090036 bulk rock is compositionally most similar to regolith surrounding the Procellarum KREEP Terrane, whereas MIL 090070 best matches regolith in the feldspathic highlands terrane on the lunar farside. Our results suggest that some areas of the lunar farside crust are composed of ferroan anorthosite, and that the samples shed light on the evolution and impact bombardment history of the ancient lunar highlands.
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: | 07 Nov 2016 14:04 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:27 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/16613 |
Statistics
Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.
Archive Staff Only (login required)
