Testing for Differentiation of the Orientale Impact Melt Sheet

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Studies of terrestrial impact craters have suggested that the melt sheet from a single impact event has a uniform composition both horizontally and vertically. Recently, several workers have proposed that the melt sheets of large basins may differentiate. Large clast free impact melt bodies are expected to cool slowly, allowing time for differentiation within the basin impact melt sheet. Other investigators have suggested that the melt sheets of large basins may also be laterally heterogeneous. We have selected a number of compositions from the literature to represent the rocks melted in a basin forming impact and modeled their differentiation. We included crustal and LKFM-like compositions (LKFM is thought to be basin impact melt). We then modeled fractional crystallization of these compositions to provide compositional profiles we could use to test differentiation at Orientale. Our modeling suggests vertical FeO variations of 10 wt% or more could be present. The Clementine UVVIS instrument acquired images in 5 bands for most of the lunar surface. With this data, it is possible to make estimates of surface compositions (especially FeO and TiO_2). Impact craters excavate material from beneath the surface and deposit it as ejecta on the surface. Our knowledge of the cratering process allows us to estimate the depths at which these materials originated. We have measured compositions of the lunar surface both near and away from craters in Orientale to look for evidence of compositional changes which would indicate that differentiation had occurred. Initial results suggest that the Orientale impact melt sheet is uniform in both the horizontal and vertical dimensions. We have measured a preliminary FeO content of 4+/-1 wt%, consistent with a crustal composition. We will present our updated results.

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