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DDC:
550 - Earth sciences
Abstract:
The presence of a lunar magma ocean (LMO) [1] early after lunar accretion has important implications for the subsequent thermal and chemical evolution of the Moon. Quantifying major and trace element incorporation behaviour of minerals at different conditions during lunar magma ocean (LMO) crystallisation is essential to constrain lunar evolution models. Depending on the initial lunar bulk composition [2, 3] the crystallisation sequence of the LMO is thought to be: olivine, orthopyroxene, plagioclase, clinopyroxene, and ilmenite. The mineral-melt partitioning behaviour for most of these minerals has been studied experimentally over the past decades, but most studies focused on applications to terrestrial rather than lunar compositions. In addition, although it is well known that trace element partitioning between equilibrium phases depends on pressure, temperature, composition and oxygen fugacity (P-T-x-fO2), currently available mineral-melt partitioning data often do not systematically consider these parameters. As a result, no predictive model for the lunar interior evolution of major and trace elements is available. We have obtained new experimental results on orthopyroxene-melt and ilmenite-melt partitioning of direct relevance to LMO crystallisation.
