A Low Viscosity Lunar Magma Ocean Forms a Stratified Anorthitic Flotation Crust With Mafic Poor and Rich Units

Dygert, Nick; Lin, Jung-Fu; Marshall, Edward W.; Kono, Yoshio; Gardner, James E.

doi:10.1002/2017GL075703

Title: A Low Viscosity Lunar Magma Ocean Forms a Stratified Anorthitic Flotation Crust With Mafic Poor and Rich Units

Journal Article · Tue Oct 31 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Geophysical Research Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL075703· OSTI ID:1418040

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Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
Carnegie Inst. of Science, Argonne, IL (United States). High Pressure Collaborative Access Team (HPCAT)

Much of the lunar crust is monomineralic, comprising >98% plagioclase. The prevailing model argues the crust accumulated as plagioclase floated to the surface of a solidifying lunar magma ocean (LMO). Whether >98% pure anorthosites can form in a flotation scenario is debated. An important determinant of the efficiency of plagioclase fractionation is the viscosity of the LMO liquid, which was unconstrained. Here we present results from new experiments conducted on a late LMO-relevant ferrobasaltic melt. The liquid has an exceptionally low viscosity of 0.22 $$+0.11\atop{-0.19}$$to 1.45 $$+0.46\atop{-0.82}$$ Pa s at experimental conditions (1,300–1,600°C; 0.1–4.4 GPa) and can be modeled by an Arrhenius relation. Extrapolating to LMO-relevant temperatures, our analysis suggests a low viscosity LMO would form a stratified flotation crust, with the oldest units containing a mafic component and with very pure younger units. Old, impure crust may have been buried by lower crustal diapirs of pure anorthosite in a serial magmatism scenario.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02- 06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1418040

Journal Information:: Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 44, Issue 22; ISSN 0094-8276

Publisher:: American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: ENGLISH

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Cited by: 21 works

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Title: A Low Viscosity Lunar Magma Ocean Forms a Stratified Anorthitic Flotation Crust With Mafic Poor and Rich Units

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