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Rhönite in Luna 24 pyroxenes: First find from the Moon, and implications for volatiles in planetary magmas

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Published/Copyright: April 1, 2015
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 93 Issue 2-3

Abstract

Grains of rhönite have been discovered in magmatic inclusions in augite grains of the lunar regolith from Mare Crisium, returned to Earth by the Russian Luna 24 spacecraft. These rhönite grains are up to 8 μm long, pleochroic from tan to dark brown, and associated with ulvöspinel and silica-rich glass. Electron microprobe analysis gives a composition near end-member ferroan rhönite: (Ca1.9Mn0.0Na0.1) (Fe2+4.5Mg0.1Al0.3Cr0.0)Ti1.0(Si4.0Al2.0)O20. The Raman spectrum of these grains is like those of terrestrial rhönites, and distinct from titanian amphiboles. Compositionally, rhönite plus silica plus water or halogens (F, Cl) is equivalent to titanian amphibole plus pyroxene, so the presence of rhönite in lunar basaltic rock is consistent with the known low abundance of volatiles in the Moon. When calibrated, mineral reactions involving rhönite and titanian amphibole may provide quantitative constraints on fugacities of water, F, and Cl in basaltic magmas from the Moon and other planetary bodies.

Keywords: Lunar and planetary studies; mare basalt; Luna 24; igneous petrology; moon; basalt; melt inclusion; petrography; rhönite
Received: 2007-9-6
Accepted: 2007-10-19
Published Online: 2015-4-1
Published in Print: 2008-2-1

© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Why is amazonitic K-feldspar an earmark of NYF-type granitic pegmatites? Clues from hybrid pegmatites in Madagascar
  2. Metamorphosed Ordovician Fe- and Mn-rich rocks in south-central Maine: From peri-Gondwanan deposition through Acadian metamorphism
  3. Boralsilite, Al16B6Si2O37, and “boron-mullite:” Compositional variations and associated phases in experiment and nature
  4. Prograde muscovite-rich pseudomorphs as indicators of conditions during metamorphism: An example from NW Maine
  5. Wagnerite in a cordierite-gedrite gneiss: Witness of long-term fluid-rock interaction in the continental crust (Ile d’Yeu, Armorican Massif, France)
  6. Mineral chemistry of Ti-rich biotite from pegmatite and metapelitic granulites of the Kerala Khondalite Belt (southeast India): Petrology and further insight into titanium substitutions
  7. Multiple titanium substitutions in biotites from high-grade metapelitic xenoliths (Euganean Hills, Italy): Complete crystal chemistry and appraisal of petrologic control
  8. Proto-polymorphs of jimthompsonite and chesterite in contact-metamorphosed serpentinites from Japan
  9. Silicate garnet: A micro to macroscopic (re)view
  10. Monazite occurrence, chemistry, and chronology in the granitoid rocks of the Lachlan Fold Belt, Australia: An electron microprobe study
  11. Single-crystal 40Ar/39Ar age variation in muscovite of the Gassetts Schist and associated gneiss, Vermont Appalachians
  12. Single-crystal X-ray studies of trioctahedral micas coexisting with dioctahedral micas in metamorphic sequences from western Maine
  13. Tourmaline chemistry and the IIIB site
  14. The octahedral sheet of metamorphic 2M1-phengites: A combined EMPA and AXANES study
  15. Crystal chemistry of phlogopite from Vulture-S. Michele Subsynthem volcanic rocks (Mt. Vulture, Italy) and volcanological implications
  16. Beneath the Stillwater Complex: Petrology and geochemistry of quartz-plagioclasecordierite (or garnet)-orthopyroxene-biotite ± spinel hornfels, Mountain View area, Montana
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  19. Environmental parameters affect the physical properties of fast-growing magnetosomes
  20. In situ Raman spectroscopy measurements of MgAl2O4 spinel up to 1400 °C
  21. Vibrational properties of δ-AlOOH under pressure
  22. Mössbauer spectroscopic study of synthetic leucophosphite, KFe2(PO4)2(OH)·2H2O
  23. Rhönite in Luna 24 pyroxenes: First find from the Moon, and implications for volatiles in planetary magmas
  24. New high-pressure B2 phase of FeS above 180 GPa
  25. Magnesium K-edge EXAFS study of bond-length behavior in synthetic pyrope-grossular garnet solid solutions
https://doi.org/10.2138/am.2008.2781
Keywords for this article
Lunar and planetary studies; mare basalt; Luna 24; igneous petrology; moon; basalt; melt inclusion; petrography; rhönite

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Why is amazonitic K-feldspar an earmark of NYF-type granitic pegmatites? Clues from hybrid pegmatites in Madagascar
  2. Metamorphosed Ordovician Fe- and Mn-rich rocks in south-central Maine: From peri-Gondwanan deposition through Acadian metamorphism
  3. Boralsilite, Al16B6Si2O37, and “boron-mullite:” Compositional variations and associated phases in experiment and nature
  4. Prograde muscovite-rich pseudomorphs as indicators of conditions during metamorphism: An example from NW Maine
  5. Wagnerite in a cordierite-gedrite gneiss: Witness of long-term fluid-rock interaction in the continental crust (Ile d’Yeu, Armorican Massif, France)
  6. Mineral chemistry of Ti-rich biotite from pegmatite and metapelitic granulites of the Kerala Khondalite Belt (southeast India): Petrology and further insight into titanium substitutions
  7. Multiple titanium substitutions in biotites from high-grade metapelitic xenoliths (Euganean Hills, Italy): Complete crystal chemistry and appraisal of petrologic control
  8. Proto-polymorphs of jimthompsonite and chesterite in contact-metamorphosed serpentinites from Japan
  9. Silicate garnet: A micro to macroscopic (re)view
  10. Monazite occurrence, chemistry, and chronology in the granitoid rocks of the Lachlan Fold Belt, Australia: An electron microprobe study
  11. Single-crystal 40Ar/39Ar age variation in muscovite of the Gassetts Schist and associated gneiss, Vermont Appalachians
  12. Single-crystal X-ray studies of trioctahedral micas coexisting with dioctahedral micas in metamorphic sequences from western Maine
  13. Tourmaline chemistry and the IIIB site
  14. The octahedral sheet of metamorphic 2M1-phengites: A combined EMPA and AXANES study
  15. Crystal chemistry of phlogopite from Vulture-S. Michele Subsynthem volcanic rocks (Mt. Vulture, Italy) and volcanological implications
  16. Beneath the Stillwater Complex: Petrology and geochemistry of quartz-plagioclasecordierite (or garnet)-orthopyroxene-biotite ± spinel hornfels, Mountain View area, Montana
  17. Correlation between crystallization pressure and structural parameters of phengites
  18. The modular structure of dovyrenite, Ca6Zr[Si2O7]2(OH)4: Alternate stacking of tobermorite and rosenbuschite-like units
  19. Environmental parameters affect the physical properties of fast-growing magnetosomes
  20. In situ Raman spectroscopy measurements of MgAl2O4 spinel up to 1400 °C
  21. Vibrational properties of δ-AlOOH under pressure
  22. Mössbauer spectroscopic study of synthetic leucophosphite, KFe2(PO4)2(OH)·2H2O
  23. Rhönite in Luna 24 pyroxenes: First find from the Moon, and implications for volatiles in planetary magmas
  24. New high-pressure B2 phase of FeS above 180 GPa
  25. Magnesium K-edge EXAFS study of bond-length behavior in synthetic pyrope-grossular garnet solid solutions
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