EarthRef.org Reference Database (ERR)
Development and Maintenance by the EarthRef.org Database Team

Detailed Reference Information
Warren et al. 1987
Warren, P.H., Jerde, E.A. and Kallemeyn, G.W. (1987). Pristine moon rocks: a ‘‘large’’ felsite and a metal-rich ferroan anorthosite. Journal of Geophysical Research 92: doi: 10.1029/JB092iB04p0E303. issn: 0148-0227.

We report new chemical analyses and (in most cases) descriptions for 19 lunar rock samples, including 5 mare basalts from Apollo 15 and 5 uncommonly feldspathic rocklets from Apollo 17. Two of the samples studied are most extraordinary: a ''large'' (≈1 g) felsite from Apollo 12, and a pristine ferroan anorthosite from Apollo 15 that is unusually rich in Fe-metal and trace siderophile elements. The felsite, 12033,507, is mainly a graphic intergrowth of K-feldspar and a silica phase, with about 6% plagioclase and 1% each of ferroaugite, ilmenite, and fayalitic olivine. This crystalline assemblage is crisscrossed, and apparently intruded by thin veins of brownish, felsic (average SiO2=57 wt %) glass. The glass veins are far from uniform in composition; evidently after the glass was intruded it reacted, to varying extents, with the crystalline felsite. Dark globules scattered at apparent nodes in the network of glass veins are interpreted as the least altered of the intruded glasses. These globule glasses are relatively SiO2-poor (average=48 wt %) but extremely FeO-rich (average=36 wt %). They may have formed as liquid immiscibility caused the same melt that produced the crystalline felsite to split into Fe-rich melt (the globule glasses) plus Fe-poor, Si-rich melt. According to this model, deformation, most likely caused by an impact, then squeezed the Fe-rich melt into the still nearby, and still hot, crystalline felsite. The Fe-metal content of ferroan anorthosite 15363 is 1.2 wt % in the thin section we studied, but must have been, based on mass balance for Co and Ni, considerably lower in the chip we used for bulk-rock analysis. Even so, the measured bulk-rock concentrations for several siderophile elements (Re, Os, and Ir) are far higher than previously observed among pristine lunar anorthosites. These results underscore the huge uncertainty associated with any attempt to estimate the overall siderophile element contents of the moon's crust. Among pristine rocks from the Apollo 17 site, located on the rim of the Serenitatis Basin, ferroan anorthosites continue to be far outnumbered by Mg-rich rocks. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1987

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
2000 Florida Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009-1277
USA
1-202-462-6900
1-202-328-0566
service@agu.org
Click to clear formClick to return to previous pageClick to submit