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Maria Lavas, Mascons, Layered Complexes, Achondrites and the Lunar Mantle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 February 2017

G. M. Biggar
Affiliation:
Grant Institute of Geology, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
M. J. O'hara
Affiliation:
Grant Institute of Geology, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
D. J. Humphries
Affiliation:
Grant Institute of Geology, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
A. Peckett
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Durham, England

Abstract

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Experimental data show Apollo 11 and 12 lava compositions to be controlled by fractional crystallization close to the lunar surface, in a process which yields achondrite-like igneous rocks as underlying complementary crystal accumulates. Volatilization losses during eruption can account for most other chemical differences between lunar lavas and common terrestrial magmas. No specific hypotheses of the composition, mineralogy, or origin of lunar interior can be sustained until the extent of these processes is known. A terrestrial upper-mantle-type lunar interior cannot yet be excluded. The assumption that maria surface lavas are primary partial melts is unjustified and leads to a postulated lunar interior with too low Mg/Mg+Fe to serve as a source for Apollo 14 and other igneous liquids. Other workers' uncontrolled visual estimates of crystallinity in experimental charges, purporting to show that maria lavas were not modified by low pressure fractionation, are irreconcilable with the chemistry of the residual liquids developed in our ‘reversed’ equilibrium experiments. The undesirability of using glass as a starting material for this type of experiment is re-emphasized.

Type
Part II: Scientific Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1972 

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