A Petrologic Survey of Six Rock Fragments from the Apollo 14 Bulk Sample: 14430, 14436, 14440, 14443, 14444, 14451
Abstract
Recent petrologic studies of pristine nonmare samples from the Apollo 14 site have demonstrated the unique character of the western highlands crust. Many of the lithologies which occur here are not found at other highland sites or represent unique variations of more common lithologies. Rocks of the Apollo 14 site are geochemically distinct from similar lithologies found at eastern highland sites (Apollo 15, Apollo 16, Apollo 17, and the Luna sites) -- a fact which adds further complications to current petrogenetic models for the lunar crust. Nonetheless, an understanding of how the Apollo 14 highlands province formed and why it differs from highland crust in the east is crucial to our overall understanding of primordial lunar differentiation and petrogenesis. We report here new petrologic data on six previously unstudied rock fragments from the Apollo 14 bulk sample, which was taken from a location close to the lunar module during the first EVA. These fragments are coarser than 1 cm and were separated from the bulk sample with a 1 cm mesh sieve. No work has been done on these fragments since they were described by Carlson and Walton.
- Publication:
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Lunar and Planetary Science Conference
- Pub Date:
- March 1996
- Bibcode:
- 1996LPI....27.1191S
- Keywords:
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- BRECCIA;
- HIGHLANDS;
- PRISTINE