Evidence of extensive lunar crust formation in impact melt sheets 4,330 Myr ago

Lee Francis White; Ana Černok; James Darling; Martin J. Whitehouse; Katie Joy; C. Cayron; Joseph Nicholas Dunlop; Kimberly Tait; Mahesh Anand

doi:10.1038/s41550-020-1092-5

Evidence of extensive lunar crust formation in impact melt sheets 4,330 Myr ago

Lee Francis White, Ana Černok, James Darling, Martin J. Whitehouse, Katie Joy, C. Cayron, Joseph Nicholas Dunlop, Kimberly Tait, Mahesh Anand

School of the Environment, Geography & Geosciences

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Abstract

Accurately constraining the formation and evolution of the lunar magnesian (Mg) suite is key to understanding the earliest periods of magmatic crustal building that followed accretion and primordial differentiation of the Moon. However, the origin and evolution of these unique rocks is highly debated. Here, we report on the microstructural characterisation of a large (~250 μm) baddeleyite (monoclinic-ZrO2) grain in Apollo troctolite 76535 that preserves quantifiable crystallographic relationships indicative of reversion from a precursor cubic-ZrO2 phase. This observation places important constraints on the formation temperature of the grain (> 2300 °C) which endogenic processes alone fail to reconcile. We conclude that the troctolite crystallized directly from a large, differentiated impact melt sheet 4326 ± 14 million years (Myr) ago. These results suggest that impact bombardment would have played a critical role in the evolution of the earliest planetary crusts.

Original language	English
Article number	0
Pages (from-to)	974-978
Number of pages	5
Journal	Nature Astronomy
Volume	4
Issue number	10
Early online date	11 May 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-1092-5
Publication status	Published - 1 Oct 2020

Keywords

Moon
meteorite
Baddeleyite
Geochronology
meteorite impact
Apollo
Lunar
Microstructure
EBSD
SIMS
geology
geological materials
RCUK
STFC
ST/L000776/1
ST/P000657/1
ST/M001253
ST/S000291/1

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10.1038/s41550-020-1092-5

White_et_al_Nature_Astronomy_Accepted
This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Nature Astronomy. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-1092-5.
Accepted author manuscript (Post-print), 561 KB

18 Citations
6 Article
2 Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Preservation of primordial signatures of water in highly-shocked ancient lunar rocks
Černok, A., Anand, M., Zhao, X., Darling, J., White, L., Stephant, A., Dunlop, J. N., Tait, K. & Franchi, I., 15 Aug 2020, In: Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 544, 116364.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Open Access
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Crystallization and impact history of a meteoritic sample of early lunar crust (NWA 3163) refined by atom probe geochronology
White, L. F., Moser, D. E., Tait, K., Langelier, B., Barker, I. R. & Darling, J., 21 Jan 2019, (Early online) In: Geoscience Frontiers.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Open Access
File
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Crystallization of baddeleyite in basaltic rocks from Mars and comparisons with the Earth, Moon, Mars, and Vesta
Herd, C. D. K., Moser, D. E., Tait, K., Darling, J., Shaulis, B. J. & McCoy, T. J., 28 Jan 2019, Microstructural Geochronology: Planetary Records Down to Atom Scale. Moser, D. E., Corfu, F., Darling, J. R., Reddy, S. M. & Tait, K. (eds.). American Geophysical Union, p. 137-167 31 p. (Geophysical Monograph Series; vol. 232).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

Open Access
Baddeleyite as a widespread and sensitive indicator of meteorite bombardment in planetary crusts
White, L. F., Darling, J., Moser, D. E., Cayron, C., Barker, I. R., Dunlop, J. & Tait, K. T., 1 Aug 2018, In: Geology. 46, 8, p. 719-722 4 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Complex nanostructures in shocked, annealed and metamorphosed baddeleyite defined by atom probe tomography
White, L. F., Darling, J., Moser, D. E., Reinhard, D. A., Larson, D. J., Lawrence, D. & Martin, I., 29 Jan 2018, Microstructural Geochronology: Planetary Records Down to Atom Scale. Moser, D. E., Corfu, F., Darling, J. R., Reddy, S. M. & Tait, K. (eds.). American Geophysical Union, p. 351-367 17 p. (Geophysical Monograph Series).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

Open Access

1 Active

EMMU: Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis Unit
Darling, J., Dunlop, J., Storey, C., Coyne, J. & Koor, N.
1/01/18 → …
Project: Other

Cite this

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title = "Evidence of extensive lunar crust formation in impact melt sheets 4,330 Myr ago",

abstract = "Accurately constraining the formation and evolution of the lunar magnesian (Mg) suite is key to understanding the earliest periods of magmatic crustal building that followed accretion and primordial differentiation of the Moon. However, the origin and evolution of these unique rocks is highly debated. Here, we report on the microstructural characterisation of a large (~250 μm) baddeleyite (monoclinic-ZrO2) grain in Apollo troctolite 76535 that preserves quantifiable crystallographic relationships indicative of reversion from a precursor cubic-ZrO2 phase. This observation places important constraints on the formation temperature of the grain (> 2300 °C) which endogenic processes alone fail to reconcile. We conclude that the troctolite crystallized directly from a large, differentiated impact melt sheet 4326 ± 14 million years (Myr) ago. These results suggest that impact bombardment would have played a critical role in the evolution of the earliest planetary crusts.",

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author = "White, {Lee Francis} and Ana {\v C}ernok and James Darling and Whitehouse, {Martin J.} and Katie Joy and C. Cayron and Dunlop, {Joseph Nicholas} and Kimberly Tait and Mahesh Anand",

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AU - Joy, Katie

AU - Cayron, C.

AU - Dunlop, Joseph Nicholas

AU - Tait, Kimberly

AU - Anand, Mahesh

PY - 2020/10/1

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N2 - Accurately constraining the formation and evolution of the lunar magnesian (Mg) suite is key to understanding the earliest periods of magmatic crustal building that followed accretion and primordial differentiation of the Moon. However, the origin and evolution of these unique rocks is highly debated. Here, we report on the microstructural characterisation of a large (~250 μm) baddeleyite (monoclinic-ZrO2) grain in Apollo troctolite 76535 that preserves quantifiable crystallographic relationships indicative of reversion from a precursor cubic-ZrO2 phase. This observation places important constraints on the formation temperature of the grain (> 2300 °C) which endogenic processes alone fail to reconcile. We conclude that the troctolite crystallized directly from a large, differentiated impact melt sheet 4326 ± 14 million years (Myr) ago. These results suggest that impact bombardment would have played a critical role in the evolution of the earliest planetary crusts.

AB - Accurately constraining the formation and evolution of the lunar magnesian (Mg) suite is key to understanding the earliest periods of magmatic crustal building that followed accretion and primordial differentiation of the Moon. However, the origin and evolution of these unique rocks is highly debated. Here, we report on the microstructural characterisation of a large (~250 μm) baddeleyite (monoclinic-ZrO2) grain in Apollo troctolite 76535 that preserves quantifiable crystallographic relationships indicative of reversion from a precursor cubic-ZrO2 phase. This observation places important constraints on the formation temperature of the grain (> 2300 °C) which endogenic processes alone fail to reconcile. We conclude that the troctolite crystallized directly from a large, differentiated impact melt sheet 4326 ± 14 million years (Myr) ago. These results suggest that impact bombardment would have played a critical role in the evolution of the earliest planetary crusts.

KW - Moon

KW - meteorite

KW - Baddeleyite

KW - Geochronology

KW - meteorite impact

KW - Apollo

KW - Lunar

KW - Microstructure

KW - EBSD

KW - SIMS

KW - geology

KW - geological materials

KW - RCUK

KW - STFC

KW - ST/L000776/1

KW - ST/P000657/1

KW - ST/M001253

KW - ST/S000291/1

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EP - 978

JO - Nature Astronomy

JF - Nature Astronomy

IS - 10

M1 - 0

ER -

Evidence of extensive lunar crust formation in impact melt sheets 4,330 Myr ago

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Research output

Preservation of primordial signatures of water in highly-shocked ancient lunar rocks

Crystallization and impact history of a meteoritic sample of early lunar crust (NWA 3163) refined by atom probe geochronology

Crystallization of baddeleyite in basaltic rocks from Mars and comparisons with the Earth, Moon, Mars, and Vesta

Baddeleyite as a widespread and sensitive indicator of meteorite bombardment in planetary crusts

Complex nanostructures in shocked, annealed and metamorphosed baddeleyite defined by atom probe tomography

Projects

EMMU: Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis Unit

Cite this