Average Mineral Composition of Apollo Landing Site Soils

Physics

Scientific paper

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Basalt, Kreep, Lunar Soil, Minerals, Regolith, Lunar Maria, Mineralogy, Moon, Lunar Composition, Lunar Geology, Glass, Feldspars, Olivine, Pyroxenes, Selenology

Scientific paper

The purpose of this paper is to express the average composition of lunar soils at Apollo landing sites in terms of four principal mineral groups, i.e., plagioclase, pyroxene, olivine and opaque (mostly ilmenite) Several studies have shown that lunar soil predominantly consists of lithic fragments of mare and highland rocks, glass fragments, fused soil particles, and the single grains of minerals. To achieve this goal, we have compiled modal data from the literature and recast them in terms of these minerals. The distribution of percentages for the lithic and mineral components of the lunar soil samples (90-150 pm) was compiled from the modal data in the Handbook of Lunar Soils and checked against primary sources. We used our own analyses for soils 14141, 15271, 15401, 15431, 67941, and 72161. The population of glass, regolith breccia, and fused soil was neglected on the assumption that they approximately represented the modal distribution of the minerals in the soil. Grains classified as anorthosites, gabbronorite, crystalline breccias, and highland basalt were grouped as "higuand rocks"; those classified as mare basalt and KREEP basalt were grouped as "mare rocks."

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