The Composition of the Prebasin Crust in the Central Highlands of the Moon

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Apollo 16, Basins, Breccia: Lunar, Moon, Regoliths: Lunar

Scientific paper

The Apollo 16 regolith consists of a large amount of material derived from the prebasin crust, i.e., (1) plutonic ferroan anorthosite and brecciated derivatives (>90% plagioclase), (2) a variety of noritic anor-thosites (plutonic, feldspathic fragmental breccias [FFBs], granulitic breccias [GrBs], feldspathic impact-melt breccias), and (3) a minor amount of gabbronorites of highland affinity. However, the site is sufficiently close to nearside mare basins that the regolith also contains a substantial fraction of basin ejecta as well as some mare-derived materials (MDMs) delivered to the site by volcanism and impacts since filling of the basins with mare basalt. These syn- and postbasin products include (4) mafic impact-melt breccias [MIMBs, i.e., "LKFM" and "VHA"], (5) MDMS, i.e., glasses and some crystalline mare basalt, and (6) meteoritic material (largely from micrometeorites) accumulated in the regolith since basin for-ma-tion ~3.9 Ga ago. The MIMBs, which are rich in incompatible trace elements, were formed during the time of basin formation by impacts large enough to penetrate the outer feldspathic crust and melt mafic underlying material, although not all of the several known varieties at the Apollo 16 site may actually have been formed by impacts that produced basins. The Central Highlands, as sampled by the Apollo 16 mission, differs from highlands regions distant from mare basins in its high abundance of mafic syn- and postbasin material. For example, some feldspathic lunar meteorites (ALHA81005, Yamato-86032, MAC 88104/5, QUE93069) contain virtually no MDMSor MIMBs.

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