Recognition of lunar glass droplets produced directly from endogenous liquids - The evidence from S-ZN coatings

Concentrated deposits of ultramafic droplets of green glass at Apollo 15 and orange and black glass at Apollo 17 are generally accepted as having volcanic, and so endogenous, origins. Since these droplets have S + Zn surface coatings with characteristics that fit a volcanic origin, the presence of similar coatings on dispersed droplets are taken as a good criterion of their volcanic origin. This criterion in concert with other criteria (homogeneity, absence of shocked relicts) that distinguish between volcanic and impact origins, has led to identification of a new ultramafic endogenous liquid that was erupted at Apollo 15. The brown glass droplets representing this liquid have a higher TiO2 content and are more mafic than any of the Apollo 15 basalts.