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Post-Impact Light Vapor Incorporation During Lunar Formation Based On Triple Oxygen Isotopes, Erick J. Cano

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Initial triple oxygen isotope analyses of lunar samples showed them to be indistinguishable from Earth, which led to numerous papers aimed at explaining the similarities. Recent high-precision analyses suggested either a subtle enrichment in Δ'¹⁷O or virtually no difference between the Earth and Moon. Herein we expand on previous studies by correlating the triple oxygen isotope measurements with different lunar lithologies. We show that these data can be explained by mixing between a light vapor phase, generated during the Giant Impact, and the residual material from the proto-lunar impactor ‘Theia’. There is a general decrease in Δ'^{17 …}