Simultaneous static-mode mass spectrometric measurements of nitrogen, carbon, helium, neon, and argon extracted from the same aliquot of sample by high-resolution stepped combustion have been made for a suite of six lunar basalts. Collecting abundance and isotopic data for several elements simultaneously from the same sample aliquot enables more detailed identification of different volatile com...

High spatial resolution Clementine images are examined to measure the reflectance properties of small and optically immature mare craters that have sampled discrete compositional units. The spectral properties of these relatively crystalline mare materials are compared to associated mature soils to determine the effects of space weathering on specific basalt types. Space weathering is observed ...

Introduction: Oxygen isotopes of planetary materials provide important constraints on the genesis and evolution of their parent planetary bodies. The general consensus about the formation of Earth-Moon system is that a Mars-sized planetary body impacted a proto-Earth off center and contributed 70%-90% of its material to the Moon [1,2]. The impactor (Thea) is not expected to have the identical o...

Introduction: Many questions regarding the petrogenesis of mare basalts remain unresolved. Trace element and isotope geochemists tend to view the range of mare basalt compositional groups as independent primary magmas and develop mantle melting models to explain the compositional diversity [e.g. 1, 2, 3]. On the other hand, petrologists view the mare basalt suites as non-primary and suggest tha...

Introduction: Previous trace element and isotopic analyses of the Apollo 14 high-Al basalts, suggest that these samples represent the earliest stages of basaltic volcanism on the Moon and that they are not random samples from the lunar regolith [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. One of the primary goals of this work is to determine if these small, fragmented samples are the result of igneous or impact processes....

[1] Volcanic SO2 can affect the Earth’s environment. Where no direct measurements of SO2 in the atmosphere are available, a petrologic method of assessing sulfur release from the magma must be used. However, in studies of arcderived eruptions, satellite-based measurements of SO2 emissions using Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) data are orders of magnitude greater than those calculated pe...

Experiments were conducted to determine CO2 solubilities in alkali basalts from Vesuvius, Etna and Stromboli. The basaltic melts were equilibrated with nearly pure CO2 at 1200°C under oxidizing conditions, and at pressures ranging from 269 to 2060 bars. CO2 solubility was determined by FTIR measurements. The results show that alkalis have a strong effect on the CO2 solubility and confirm and re...

Haldatie Is a 40 km multi-ringed crater that occurs along with similar structures in a belt within the Smylhii Basin, It is the best developed structurally of all ciraters in this belt and displays examples of all materials units of Mare Smythii. In addition to the outer rim, the crater displays a sharp-crested, nearly complete inner ring, and a complex central peak of round hills that are 3nO-...

Introduction: Organic compounds may survive beneath the surface or at the poles of the Moon. If so, at least a fraction of such compounds were probably delivered by asteroids and possibly comets. To the extent that inputs of carbon from different sources might vary as a function of geographic location and composition of crustal materials, future studies can advance our understanding of the orig...

The +0.1‰ elevated 56Fe/54Fe ratio of terrestrial basalts relative to chondrites was proposed to be a fingerprint of core-mantle segregation. However, the extent of iron isotopic fractionation between molten metal and silicate under high pressure-temperature conditions is poorly known. Here we show that iron forms chemical bonds of similar strengths in basaltic glasses and iron-rich alloys, eve...