Sample 67559
67559Highland Basalt 32.84 grams
Section titled “67559Highland Basalt 32.84 grams”
Figure 1: Photo of 67559 with scale (mm). S80-34090
Introduction
Section titled “Introduction”67559 was collected as a rake sample from the rim of North Ray Crater – see section on 67481. It has a nice igneous texture indicating that it cooled from a liquid, albeit, highly aluminous (figures 1 and 2). It contains a trace of Ni, Ir and Au and has been dated at $3.76 \pm 0.04$ b.y., which makes it a critical sample.
Yes, Virginia, there are basalts in the lunar highlands, but they are, in fact, impact melts! See also sections of 68415, 68416.
Mineralogical Mode 67559
Section titled “Mineralogical Mode 67559”| Vaniman and | Reimold et | |
|---|---|---|
| Papike 1980 | al. 1985 | |
| Plagioclase | 74.7 % | 83.1 |
| yroxene | 20.1 | 13.8 |
| Olivine | 2.1 | - |
| Opaque | 2.1 | 1.1 |
| Mesostasis | 2 | |
Figure 2 a: Internal texture of 68559,1 (Ryder and Norman 1980). Crossed polarizer - width of field is 2 mm.
Figure 2b: Internal texture of 67559,13 (Reimold et al. 1985).
Petrography
Section titled “Petrography”Steele and Smith (1973) state that “feldspar-rich basalt 67559 has pyroxene and olivine ranges essentially identical to those of 68415”. Ryder and Norman (1980) and Vaniman and Papike (1981) noticed the same thing (figure 3). Reimold et al. (1985) separated the mesostasis and studied it carefully by SEM.
Plagioclase grains up to 1 mm are zoned from An98-90.
Refer to figures 6 and 7.
Chemistry
Section titled “Chemistry”Nava et al. (1974), Stoffler et al. (1985) and Wasson et al. (1977) have reported analyses of 67559.
Figure 3a: Pyroxene in rake samples including field of 67559 (Steele and Smith 1973).
Figure 3b: Olivine and pyroxene in 67559 (Vaniman and Papike 1981).
Figure 4: Normalized rare-earth-element diagram for 67559 (Ryder and Norman 1980).
Figure 5: Two diagrams lifted from Reimold et al. (1985).
Summary of Age Data for 67559
Section titled “Summary of Age Data for 67559”Rb/Sr Reimold et al. 1985 3.76 +/- 0.04 b.y.
Caution: Changes in decay constant.
Additional data can be found in Tera et al. (1974) and Reimold et al. (1985).
Radiogenic age dating
Section titled “Radiogenic age dating”Reimold et al. (1985) dated 67559 at 3.76 ± 0.04 b.y. by Rb-Sr and also reported data for Sm-Nd. Tera et al. (1974) also reported Rb/Sr and U/Th/Pb data for the whole rock. I can’t comprehend why there is no age by Ar/Ar.
Processing
Section titled “Processing”There are 4 thin sections from 3 different regions, yet no clasts were found.
Table 1. Chemical composition of 67559
| weight | reference Wasson77 Nava74 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SiO2 % TiO2 Al2O3 FeO MnO MgO CaO Na2O K2O P2O5 S % sum | Vaniman 0.47 29.8 4.31 0.06 3.8 16.5 0.51 0.08 | 45.3 (a) 0.26 (a) 27.42 (a) 4.3 (a) 0.054 (a) 4.47 (a) 16.4 (a) 0.5 (a) 0.078 0.113 | (b) (b) (b) (b) (b) (b) (b) (b) (b) (b) | |
| Sc ppm V Cr Co Ni Cu Zn Ga Ge ppb As Se Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Mo Ru Rh Pd ppb Ag ppb Cd ppb In ppb Sn ppb Sb ppb Te ppb Cs ppm Ba La Ce Pr Nd Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb Lu Hf Ta W ppb Re ppb Os ppb Ir ppb Pt ppb Au ppb Th ppm | 8.8 21 690 20.6 257 | (a) (a) (a) (a) (a) | ||
| 5.6 3.8 320 | (a) (a) (a) | |||
| 26 | (a) | |||
| 11 | (a) | |||
| 76 7.2 18 | (a) (a) (a) | |||
| 11 3.1 1.2 | (a) (a) (a) | |||
| 0.66 4.3 | (a) (a) | |||
| 2.4 0.34 2.4 0.28 | (a) (a) (a) (a) | |||
| 11 5 1.1 | (a) (a) (a) | |||
| U ppm technique: (a) INAA, (b) AA, colorimetry | 0.39 | (a) |
Lunar Sample Compendium C Meyer 2012
References for 67559
Section titled “References for 67559”Borchardt R., Stoffler D., Spettel B., Palme H., Wanke H., Wacker K. and Jessberger E.K. (1986) Composition, structure and age of the Apollo 16 subregolith basement as deduced from the chemistry of post-Imbrium melt bombs. Proc. 17th Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. in J. Geophys. Res. 90, E43-E54.
Butler P. (1972a) Lunar Sample Information Catalog Apollo 16. Lunar Receiving Laboratory. MSC 03210 Curator’s Catalog. pp. 370.
LSPET (1973b) The Apollo 16 lunar samples: Petrographic and chemical description. Science 179, 23-34.
LSPET (1972c) Preliminary examination of lunar samples. In Apollo 16 Preliminary Science Report. NASA SP-315, 7-1—7-58.
McKinley J.P., Taylor G.J., Keil K., Ma M.-S. and Schmitt R.A. (1984) Apollo 16: Impact sheets, contrasting nature of the Cayley Plains and Descartes Mountains, and geologic history. Proc. 14th Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. in J. Geophys. Res. 89, B513-B524.
Nava D.F. (1974a) Chemical compositions of some soils and rock types from the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 lunar sites. Proc. 5th Lunar Sci. Conf. 1087-1096.
Vaniman D.T. and Papike J.J. (1978) The lunar highland melt-rock suite. Geophys. Res. Lett. 5, 429-432.
Vaniman D.T. and Papike J.J. (1980) Lunar highland melt rocks: Chemistry, petrology and silicate mineralogy. In Proc. Conf. Lunar Highlands Crust (Papike J.J. and Merrill R.B., eds.) 271-337. Pergamon. Lunar Planetary Institute, Houston.
Reimold W.U., Nyquist L.E., Bansal B.M., Wooden J.L., Shih C.-Y., Wiesmann H. and Mackinnnon I.D.R. (1985) Isotope analysis of crystalline impact-melt rocks from Apollo 16 stations 11 and 13. North Ray Crater. Proc. 15th Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. in J. Geophys. Res. 90, C431-C448.
Ryder G. and Norman M.D. (1980) Catalog of Apollo 16 rocks (3 vol.). Curator’s Office pub. #52, JSC #16904
Steele I.M. and Smith J.V. (1972c) Apollo 16 rake samples 67515 to 68537: Sample classification, description and inventory. Curator Catalog, JSC
Steele I.M. and Smith J.V. (1973) Mineralogy and petrology of some Apollo 16 rocks and fines: General petrologic model of the moon. Proc. 4th Lunar Sci. Conf. 519-536.
Steele I.M., Hutcheon I.D. and Smith J.V. (1980) Ion microprobe analysis and petrogenetic interpretations of Li, Mg, Ti, K, Sr, Ba in lunar plagioclase. Proc. 11th Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. 571-590.
Stöffler D., Ostertag R., Reimold W.U., Borchardt R., Malley J. and Rehfeldt A. (1981) Distribution and provenance of lunar highland rock types at North Ray Crater, Apollo 16. Proc. 12th Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. 185-207.
Stöffler D., Bischoff A., Borchardt R., Burghele A., Deutsch A., Jessberger E.K., Ostertag R., Palme H., Spettel B., Reimold W.U., Wacker K. and Wanke H. (1985) Composition and evolution of the lunar crust in the Descartes highlands. Proc. 15th Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. in J. Geophys. Res. 90, C449-C506.
Sutton R.L. (1981) Documentation of Apollo 16 samples. In Geology of the Apollo 16 area, central lunar highlands. (Ulrich et al. ) U.S.G.S. Prof. Paper 1048.
Tera F., Papanastassiou D.A. and Wasserburg G.J. (1974) Isotopic evidence for a terminal lunar cataclysm. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 22, 1-21.
Wasson J.T., Warren P.H., Kallemeyn G.W., McEwing C.E., Mittlefehldt D.W. and Boynton W.V. (1977) SCCRV, a major component of highlands rocks. Proc. 8th Lunar Sci. Conf. 2237-2252.