Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published March 1973 | public
Book Section - Chapter

Petrology of rock 12002 and origin of picritic basalts at Oceanus Procellarum

Abstract

Rock 12002 is a member of the Apollo 12 picritic basalt suite. Experimental olivine-liquid equilibria combined with petrographic observations indicate that 12002 may represent a primary liquid composition. As shown by high pressure experiments, liquids capable of producing the picritic suite can be generated by the partial melting of an olivine+clinopyroxene lunar interior at a depth of 300 km. The crystallization sequence inferred from petrographic observations has been reproduced experimentally at low pressures. Chemical variations similar to those in natural pyroxenes have been partially reproduced in equilibration experiments and suggest a two-stage cooling history for 12002.

Additional Information

© 1973 Pergamon Press. We have benefited from discussions with M. J. O'Hara and E. Dowty. We thank Jeffrey Warner, F. R. Boyd, and M. J. O'Hara for their careful and constructive critiques of the manuscript. Our electron probe is ably maintained by M. Campot. This study was supported by NASA grants NGR 22-007-175 and NGL 22-007-247 and the Harvard Committee on Experimental Geology and Geophysics.

Additional details

Created:
August 23, 2023
Modified:
October 18, 2023