Lunar petrogenesis in a well-stirred magma oceanThe principal group of low-KREEP highlands rocks as indicated by quartz-olivine-anorthite pseudoternary phase diagrams shows chemical trends which violate the Bowen reaction principle, in that the greater the concentration of magnesian and mafic minerals, the more sodic the coexisting plagioclase tends to be. It is suggested that this trend was established during the primary differentiation of the lunar crust and is a result of crystallization in a vigorously convecting (well-stirred) system. Under these conditions all plagioclase crystals, all pyroxene crystals, and all of the residual liquid remain fairly uniform in composition until advanced crystallization immobilizes the system. The rock suite then established would vary continuously from anorthositic types at the top to ultramafic types at the bottom.
Document ID
19780062753
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Authors
Wood, J. A. (Harvard College Observatory and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Cambridge, Mass., United States)