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Lunar rock types - The role of plagioclase in non-mare and highland rock types
N. J. Hubbard, P. W. Gast, L. E. Nyquist, J. M. Rhodes, B. M. Bansal, H. Wiesmann, C. Y. Shih
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Abstract
Some nonmare and highland rock types (14310 type KREEP and very high Al2O3 basalts) have the internal chemical variations expected for a plagioclase-liquid system. The observed Eu variations in these rock types suggest a D(Eu) 1/p of 0.6 to 0.7. The Sr variations suggest a D(Sr) 1/p of about 0.6, with values as low as 0.35 suggested for some materials from sample 14063. Common Apollo 14 KREEP and Apollo 15 KREEP do not show internal Sr, Eu, Al2O3 variations consistent with the D(Eu, Sr) 1/p values derived for 14310 type KREEP. Major element and experimental data indicate that olivine or pyroxene is a large, perhaps dominant, controller of chemical variations within common Apollo 14 KREEP. The application of these distribution coefficients to pure anorthosites like 15415 yields the model dependent conclusion that the silicate liquids with which such anorthosites may have been chemically equilibrated have not yet been analyzed and perhaps not directly sampled.