1. Young KREEP-like mare volcanism from Oceanus Procellarum.
- Author
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Wang, Zaicong, Zong, Keqing, Li, Yiheng, Li, Jiawei, He, Qi, Zou, Zongqi, Becker, Harry, Moynier, Frédéric, Day, James M.D., Zhang, Wen, Qian, Yuqi, Xiao, Long, Hu, Zhaochu, She, Zhenbing, Hui, Hejiu, Wu, Xiang, and Liu, Yongsheng
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LUNAR maria , *DRILL cores , *SIDEROPHILE elements , *BRECCIA , *CORE drilling , *BASALT , *VOLCANISM , *TANTALUM , *GEOCHEMISTRY - Abstract
The Moon's mare volcanism predominantly occurs within the Procellarum KREEP Terrane (PKT), which is widely thought to be associated with KREEP components within the lunar interior. The Chang'e-5 (CE-5) mission sampled a young (2 Ga) mare basalt Em4/P58 unit of northern Oceanus Procellarum. The geochemistry of the CE-5 mare basalt enables assessment of mantle source compositions which are essential to understand the thermo-chemical mechanism for prolonged volcanism during secular cooling of the Moon. Geochemical compositions of the CE-5 bulk soil, breccias, and basalt clasts from various depths within the drill core consistently display high concentrations of incompatible trace elements (ITE: ∼ 0.3 × high-K KREEP; ∼ 5 μg/g Th) with KREEP-like inter-element ratios, for example for La/Sm, Nb/Ta, and Zr/Y. Exotic impact ejecta, extensive magma differentiation (<70 % fractional crystallization) and significant assimilation of KREEP materials during magma transit and eruption cannot account for the ITE contents and ratios or radiogenic isotope compositions (e.g., εNd initial of + 8 to + 9 and εHf initial of + 40 to + 46) of the CE-5 basalts; instead, partial melting of their mantle source played a dominant role. The Chang'e-5 basalt is a chemically evolved low-Ti mare basalt (Mg# of ∼ 34) with enriched KREEP-like ITE compositions but high long-term time-integrated Sm/Nd and Lu/Hf ratios, which represent a hitherto unsampled type of mare basalt. It formed by melting of an augite-rich mantle source (late-stage magma ocean cumulates containing > 30–60 % augite, and little or no ilmenite), with a small amount of late-stage interstitial melt that resembles KREEP (∼1–1.5 modal %, equivalent to 0.2–0.3 μg/g Th in the mantle source). The voluminous mare basalts making up the Em4/P58 unit (>1500 km3) provide compelling evidence for large-scale, ITE enriched young mare magmatism within Oceanus Procellarum. In combination with remote sensing data and with the unique Th-rich Apollo 12 basalt fragment 12032,366–18 (impact ejecta likely from Oceanus Procellarum), this implies that significant portions of the FeO- and Th-rich mare regions of the western PKT may also have formed in a similar way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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