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Abundance and Distribution of Iron on the Moon
Abstract
The abundance and distribution of iron on the moon is derived from a near-global data set from Clementine. The determined iron content of the lunar highlands crust (∼3 percent iron by weight) supports the hypothesis that much of the lunar crust was derived from a magma ocean. The iron content of lower crustal material exposed by the South Pole-Aitken impact basin on the lunar farside is higher (∼7 to 8 percent by weight) and consistent with a basaltic composition. This composition supports earlier evidence that the lunar crust becomes more mafic with depth. The data also suggest that the bulk composition of the moon differs from that of the Earth's mantle. This difference excludes models for lunar origin that require the Earth and moon to have the same compositions, such as fission and coaccretion, and favors giant impact and capture.
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Cited by
Major lunar crustal terranes: Surface expressions and crust‐mantle origins
Jolliff, B. L., Gillis, J. J., Haskin, L. A., Korotev, R. L., & Wieczorek, M. A. (2000) · Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets · doi:10.1029/1999je001103 · Cited by 939
Simulations of a late lunar-forming impact
Canup, R. M. (2004) · Icarus · doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2003.09.028 · Cited by 669
Lunar-forming collisions with pre-impact rotation
CANUP, R. (2008) · Icarus · doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2008.03.011 · Cited by 157
Oxygen extraction from lunar soils and pyroclastic glass
Allen, C. C., Morris, R. V., & McKay, D. S. (1996) · Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets · doi:10.1029/96je02726 · Cited by 104
Wu, Y. (2012) · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.gca.2012.07.011 · Cited by 54
Metadata
- Authors
- Lucey, P. G., Taylor, G. J., & Malaret, E.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1995-05-26
- Volume
- 268
- Issue
- 5214
- Pages
- 1150-1153
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2093527402
- Cited by
- 446
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 18.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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