Moon—An albite depleted giant Skaergaard? |
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| Authors: | Surendra K Saxena Alan Benimoff Nicholas E Pingitore Jr |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Geology, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, 11210, Brooklyn, New York, USA
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| Abstract: | The chemical composition of 2188 terrestrial igneous rocks ranging from ultrabasic to granitic composition was analyzed statistically using the method of factor analysis (principal components). The resultant first and second factors were: $$\begin{gathered} {\text{ }}F_1 = 0.933{\text{ Na}}_{\text{2}} {\text{O + 0}}{\text{.143 SiO}}_{\text{2}} + 0.206{\text{ K}}_{\text{2}} {\text{O}} - 0.346{\text{ CaO}} - 0.263{\text{ MgO}} - \hfill \\ .203{\text{ FeO}} \pm \cdot \cdot \cdot \hfill \\ {\text{ }}F_2 = 0.979{\text{ Al}}_{\text{2}} {\text{O}}_{\text{3}} - 0.269{\text{ MgO}} - 0.151{\text{ SiO}}_{\text{2}} - 0.112{\text{ FeO}} \pm \cdot \cdot \cdot \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ where oxides are in weight percent. A plot of the first factor against the second results in a useful igneous variation diagram. When the compositions of the 2188 terrestrial rocks and 604 lunar rocks are plotted on this diagram, the two groups of rocks are clearly separated within an albite-anorthite-forsterite-fayalite-quartz polygon. None of the terrestrial differentiation trends are significant for lunar rocks. The major difference in the chemistry of lunar and terrestrial rocks lies in the former being albite poor. Removal of most of the albite from the compositions of terrestrial layered intrusives such as the Skaergaard results in an excellent match between the compositions of the two groups of rocks. Albite subtracted compositions of Skaergaard rocks in particular cover the entire range of chemical variation in the lunar rocks. The statistical results prompt us to speculate further on the similarity of the moon and Skaergaard. We note that the average composition of the moon (Wanke et al., 1974) is similar to the albite subtracted composition of the Skaergaard magma. The lunar crust and a significant part of the lunar interior may match the albite subtracted and somewhat Mg enriched Skaergaard magma. |
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