Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Evolution Of Igneous Rocks On The Moon: Insights From Lunar Meteorites And Apollo 12, Sarah Valencia

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lunar samples are the “ground truth” that anchor our knowledge of lunar geology. Lunar rocks present many challenges in that they are often brecciated (composed of multiple rock types), and their location of formation on the Moon is not always known. The brecciated nature of lunar samples also has advantages – multiple lithologies that have a related petrogenetic history can occur in the same sample, allowing us to trace the petrogenetic history of evolving magmatic systems. In this dissertation, I examine two evolved magmatic systems, using samples from the Northwest Africa (NWA) 773 clan of lunar meteorites and Apollo 12 …