Other
Scientific paper
May 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007agusm.p31a..02j&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2007, abstract #P31A-02
Other
1026 Composition Of The Moon, 1060 Planetary Geochemistry (5405, 5410, 5704, 5709, 6005, 6008), 5464 Remote Sensing, 5470 Surface Materials And Properties
Scientific paper
From the exploration of the Moon carried out by the Apollo missions and subsequent analysis of samples returned from the Moon, much is known of the Moon's composition and the range of rocks and minerals that constitute its crust. Rock compositions, mineral chemistry, and isotopic characteristics discriminate crustal rocks into (1) the ferroan-anorthositic suite (early, primary crust, complementary to the mafic mantle that formed from solidification of a magma ocean and that produced basaltic volcanism later in Moon's history), (2) the magnesian suite, which appears to be intrusive into the early crust, and (3) the alkali suite, which includes more evolved chemical differentiates of magmatic processes. The magnesian and alkali suites may be related to each other by extended magmatic fractionation, but the spatial relationship of these rock types within the lunar crust is not well known. Global remote sensing done by Clementine and Lunar Prospector in the 1990s showed that surface expressions of crustal composition vary strongly and broadly across the lunar surface. The northern far-side highlands were shown to be highly anorthositic, and a large region of the western nearside was shown to be strongly enriched in thorium and other heat-producing and incompatible elements. Perhaps as a consequence, the latter was the locus of extensive volcanic activity on the Moon, although the degree to which the surface expression reflects the character of the crust at depth and the underlying mantle is not known. Another key unknown is the composition of the lower crust. The enormous South Pole-Aitken basin on the Moon's southern far side provides a window into this lower crust. Remote sensing shows it to be mafic (Fe and Mg-rich) and to exhibit a modest thorium enrichment; however, the thorium content is significantly less than that of the near-side Procellarum KREEP Terrane, suggesting that the deep crust is not everywhere similarly enriched in heat- producing elements. The inferred global distribution of materials therefore reflects a strong global asymmetry that may relate to the very early differentiation of the Moon. That the Procellarum region exhibits subdued topography and includes a wide range of volcanic materials indicates that the compositional character of the crust there is coupled with the underlying mantle, consistent with an early differentiation process that sequestered much of the radiogenic heat production into this part of the Moon. Scientifically rich targets for future exploration to better understand the crust and its diversity include the far-side South Pole-Aitken basin and some of the more extensively fractionated volcanic materials of the Procellarum KREEP Terrane such as occur in the Aristarchus region and in the extensive lava flows of Western Procellarum.
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