Niobian rutile in an Apollo 14 KREEP fragment.

Niobian rutile was found in a KREEP lithic fragment of basaltic texture. The niobian rutile contains 85.3% TiO2, 7.1% Nb2O5, 2.65% Cr2O3, 0.70% ZrO2, 0.61% SiO2, 0.82% Al2O3 0.61% FeO, 0.52% CaO, 0.22% V2O3 in addition to minor amounts of MnO, MgO, and CeO2. Rare-earth elements were not detected, in contrast with lunar niobian rutile of Marvin (1971). Coexisting minerals in the KREEP fragment are major amounts of plagioclase and orthopyroxene, and minor amounts of olivine, ilmenite, augite, barian K-feldspar, whitlockite, troilite, Ni-Fe, zirkelite, and chromite.