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Reflectance spectroscopy of chromium-bearing spinel with application to recent orbital data from the Moon

  • Kelsey B. Williams EMAIL logo , Colin R.M. Jackson , Leah C. Cheek , Kerri L. Donaldson-Hanna , Stephen W. Parman , Carle M. Pieters , M. Darby Dyar and Tabb C. Prissel
Published/Copyright: March 4, 2016
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 101 Issue 3

Abstract

Visible to near-infrared (V-NIR) remote sensing observations have identified spinel in various locations and lithologies on the Moon. Experimental studies have quantified the FeO content of these spinels (Jackson et al. 2014), however the chromite component is not well constrained. Here we present compositional and spectral analyses of spinel synthesized with varying chromium contents at lunar-like oxygen fugacity (fO2). Reflectance spectra of the chromium-bearing synthetic spinels (Cr# 1–29) have a narrow (~130 nm wide) absorption feature centered at ~550 nm. The 550 nm feature, attributed to octahedral Cr3+, is present over a wide range in iron content (Fe# 8–30) and its strength positively correlates with spinel chromium content [ln(reflectancemin) = –0.0295 Cr# – 0.3708]. Our results provide laboratory characterization for the V-NIR and mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral properties of spinel synthesized at lunar-like fO2. The experimentally determined calibration constrains the Cr# of spinels in the lunar pink spinel anorthosites to low values, potentially Cr# < 1. Furthermore, the results suggest the absence of a 550 nm feature in remote spectra of the Dark Mantle Deposits at Sinus Aestuum precludes the presence of a significant chromite component. Combined, the observation of low chromium spinels across the lunar surface argues for large contributions of anorthositic materials in both plutonic and volcanic rocks on the Moon.

Keywords: IR spectroscopy; Cr in spinel; lunar and planetary studies; lunar remote sensing; experimental petrology; synthetic spinel; visible to mid-infrared; lunar highlands; dark mantle deposits

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Taki Hiroi for assistance with spectral measurements and Joseph Boesenberg for assistance with EMP measurements. We thank E.A. Cloutis and S. Yamamoto for their thoughtful reviews of the manuscript. Additional thanks go to Reid F. Cooper who assisted in the early stages of this project. Support for this work was provided through NLSI (NNA09DB34A) and SSERVI (NNA13AB014).

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  1. Manuscript handled by Boriana Mihailova.

Received: 2015-8-18
Accepted: 2015-10-27
Published Online: 2016-3-4
Published in Print: 2016-3-1

© 2016 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2016-5535
Keywords for this article
IR spectroscopy; Cr in spinel; lunar and planetary studies; lunar remote sensing; experimental petrology; synthetic spinel; visible to mid-infrared; lunar highlands; dark mantle deposits

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Editorial
  2. The most-cited journal in mineralogy and petrology (and what scientists can learn from baseball)
  3. Fluids in the Crust
  4. Fluids in the crust during regional metamorphism: Forty years in the Waterville limestone
  5. Research Article
  6. Remanent magnetization, magnetic coupling, and interface ionic configurations of intergrown rhombohedral and cubic Fe-Ti oxides: A short survey
  7. Research Article
  8. Are covalent bonds really directed?
  9. Dana Medal Paper
  10. Constraints on the early delivery and fractionation of Earth’s major volatiles from C/H, C/N, and C/S ratios
  11. Crossroads in Earth and Planetary Materials
  12. Octahedral chemistry of 2:1 clay minerals and hydroxyl band position in the near-infrared: Application to Mars
  13. Special Collection: Advances in Ultrahigh-Pressure Metamorphism
  14. Multi-stage barite crystallization in partially melted UHP eclogite from the Sulu belt, China
  15. Spinels Renaissance: The Past, Present, and Future of those Ubiquitous Minerals and Materials
  16. Crystal chemistry of spinels in the system MgAl2O4-MgV2O4-Mg2VO4
  17. Spinels Renaissance: The Past, Present, and Future of those Ubiquitous Minerals and Materials
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  22. Compositional variation of apatite from rift-related alkaline igneous rocks of the Gardar Province, South Greenland
  23. Special Collection: Perspectives on Origins and Evolution of Crustal Magmas
  24. Dynamics and thermodynamics of magma mixing: Insights from a simple exploratory model
  25. Special Collection: From Magmas to Ore Deposits
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  28. Recognizing sulfate and phosphate complexes chemisorbed onto nanophase weathering products on Mars using in-situ and remote observations
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  30. Crystallographic orientation relationships in host–inclusion systems: New insights from large EBSD data sets
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  32. In-situ infrared spectroscopic studies of hydroxyl in amphiboles at high pressure
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