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Asymmetric crustal growth on the Moon indicated by primitive farside highland materials
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Journal Article
Asymmetric crustal growth on the Moon indicated by primitive farside highland materials
2012
Overview
The origin of the dichotomy between the lunar nearside and farside is unclear. Analysis of spectral reflectance data from the Kaguya lunar orbiter indicates a systematic difference in the degree of differentiation in the oldest lunar crustal terrains, linking the lunar dichotomy to crystallization of the magma ocean.
The Moon’s nearside and farside differ in topography
1
, crustal thickness
2
, mare volcanic activity
3
and elemental concentrations
4
. The origin of this dichotomy is still unclear
5
,
6
,
7
. It is also unknown whether the characteristics of the oldest crust, the anorthositic lunar highlands, reflect a different magmatic evolution of nearside and farside crust. Based on analyses of nearside highland rocks
8
,
9
, it has been suggested that nearside crustal growth occurred from an evolved, iron-rich magma ocean
10
, but information from the farside highlands is lacking. Here we apply an empirical algorithm to lunar reflectance spectra
11
from the Kaguya Spectral Profiler and report that magnesium contents relative to iron of primitive crustal highland rocks on the farside are higher than on the nearside. Our findings indicate that the farside crust consists of rocks that crystallized from less-evolved magma than the nearside crust. We conclude that the lunar dichotomy is directly linked to crystallization of the magma ocean and suggest that the composition of the magma ocean was more primitive at the time of crustal growth than previously estimated.
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group
Subject
