Melting of Cogenetic Depleted and Enriched Reservoirs and the Production of High-Ti Mare Basalts
Abstract
Implicit in current understanding of the location of terrestrial enriched and depleted reservoirs is the notion that they are spatially separated. The depleted reservoir on Earth is situated in the upper mantle, and the complementary enriched reservoir is located in the crust. However, Earth reservoirs are continually being modified by recycling driven by mantle convection. The Moon is demonstrably different from Earth in that its evolution was arrested relatively early - effectively with 1.5 Ga of its formation. It is possible that crystallized trapped liquids (from the late stages of a magma ocean) have been preserved as LILE-enriched portions of the lunar mantle. This would lead to depleted (cumulate) and enriched (magma ocean residual liquid) reservoirs in the lunar upper mantle. There is no evidence for significant recycling from the highland crust back into the mantle. Therefore, reservoirs created at the Moon's inception may have remained intact for over 4.0 Ga. The topics discussed include the following: (1) radiogenic isotopes in high-Ti mare basalts; (2) formation of cogenetic depleted and enriched reservoirs; and (3) melting of the source to achieve high-Ti mare basalts.
- Publication:
-
Geology of the Apollo 17 Landing Site
- Pub Date:
- December 1992
- Bibcode:
- 1992ga17.conf...53S
- Keywords:
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- Basalt;
- Chemical Composition;
- Geochemistry;
- Isotopes;
- Lunar Crust;
- Lunar Geology;
- Lunar Mantle;
- Lunar Maria;
- Magma;
- Radiogenic Materials;
- Titanium;
- Convection;
- Crystallization;
- Highlands;
- Melting;
- Lunar and Planetary Exploration