Dynamic crystallization and kinetic melting of the lunar soilDynamic crystallization and kinetic melting tests have been conducted for a lunar soil that resembles the bulk composition of the matrices of melt-rock breccias. The melting tests indicate that plagioclase and olivine can exist for finite times above their equilibrium liquidus temperatures; within 20-30 C below its liquidus temperature the sample is choked with crystals. A range of textures from radiate to porphyritic pyroxene-plagioclase granophyric to subophitic to intergranular to intersertal to very fine-grained poikilitic is found in the dynamic crystallization experiments. The number of nuclei, as deduced from the textures, increases as the melting temperature deceases from above the liquidus to below.
Document ID
19790055139
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Authors
Lofgren, G. E. (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, Tex., United States)
Smith, D. P. (Lockheed Electronics Co. Houston, TX, United States)
Brown, R. W. (Lockheed Electronics Co., Inc. Houston, Tex., United States)