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Lunar Primitive Crust, Evolution of

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Encyclopedia of Lunar Science

Abstract

The Moon provides a unique opportunity to characterize early large-scale differentiation processes of a planetary body including core formation, the evolution of a global magma ocean, and the formation of an early crust. Determining the chemical and mineralogical composition and evolution of the lunar crust provides first-order constraints on early planetary evolution and crustal genesis. Synthesizing data from both remote sensing and sample analysis reveals that the lunar crust is compositionally heterogeneous both laterally and vertically (e.g., Jolliff et al. 2000; Tompkins and Pieters 1999). The compositional diversity and evolution of the lunar crust are broadly understood within the framework of the lunar magma ocean (LMO) and post-LMO processes, in which the ancient crust is formed through the flotation of anorthositic plagioclase in a global differentiation event (e.g., Wood et al. 1970; Shirley 1983; Warren 1985). Other lithologies such as Mg-suite rocks are thought to have formed through subsequent post-LMO magmatism (e.g., Wieczorek et al. 2006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Geoexploration Science and Technology, Jilin University, Changchun, 130062, China

    Ying Sun

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  1. Ying Sun
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Prairie View A&M University, Houston, Texas, USA

    Brian Cudnik

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  1. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081, HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Edgar Steenstra

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Sun, Y. (2016). Lunar Primitive Crust, Evolution of. In: Cudnik, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Lunar Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05546-6_41-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05546-6_41-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-05546-6

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