NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Lunar granites with unique ternary feldsparsAn unusually high concentration of granitic fragments, with textures ranging from holocrystalline to glassy, occurs throughout Boulder 1, a complex breccia of highland rocks from Apollo 17, Station 2. Among the minerals included in the granites are enigmatic K-Ca-rich feldspars that fall in the forbidden region of the ternary diagram. The great variability in chemistry and texture is probably the result of impact degradation and melting of a granitic source-rock. Studies of the breccia matrix suggest that this original granitic source-rock may have contained more pyroxenes and phosphates than most of the present clasts contain. Petrographic observations on Apollo 15 KREEP basalts indicate that granitic liquids may be produced by differentiation without immiscibility, and the association of the granites with KREEP-rich fragments in the boulder suggests that the granites represent a residual liquid from the plutonic fractional crystallization of a KREEP-rich magma. Boulder 1 is unique among Apollo 17 samples in its silica-KREEP-rich composition. We conclude that the boulder represents a source-rock unlike the bedrock of South Massif.
Document ID
19780062716
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Authors
Ryder, G.
(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Stoeser, D. B.
(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Marvin, U. B.
(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Bower, J. F.
(Harvard College Observatory and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge Mass., United States)
Date Acquired
August 9, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1975
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
Meeting Information
Meeting: Lunar Science Conference
Location: Houston, TX
Start Date: March 17, 1975
End Date: March 21, 1975
Accession Number
78A46625
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NGL-09-015-150
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available