The effect of titanium on the partitioning behavior of high-field strength elements between silicates, oxides and lunar basaltic melts with applications to the origin of mare basalts

Magnesium stable isotopes support the lunar magma ocean cumulate remelting model for mare basalts

“…1 and SI Appendix, Table S1), which is similar to earlier reports (23,37,39). Stable isotope studies of other elements such as O, Ti, Li, and Fe have also shown a dichotomy between low-and high-Ti basalts with low-Ti basalts being similar to the BSE and high-Ti basalts departing toward heavier/lighter isotope compositions (17,18,20,34,45,64,65). Sedaghatpour et al (23) predicted the isotopically light ilmenite produced at the late stage of LMO solidification to be the main source of the isotopically light Mg observed in high-Ti basalts.…”

“…We model Mg isotope fractionation during the LMO differentiation to test if the isotopic dichotomy seen in low-and high-Ti basalts is consistent with the cumulate remelting model (9,12,18). In this study, we used the Snyder et al 11…”

“…The solid and dashed curves represent melt and cumulate compositions, respectively, that evolve during the LMO solidification. Lunar basalts have been produced by partial melting of the LMO cumulates (9,12,18,72). Hence, melting of LMO cumulates following the dashed curves in Fig.…”

“…Many experimental and theoretical models along with elemental and isotopic data of lunar samples, including both stable and radiogenic isotopes, were used to determine the Moon's origin and magmatic evolution as well as the origin of lunar basalts, which are presumably partial melts of the cumulates produced during the LMO crystallization (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19). Over the last 2 decades, the nontraditional stable isotopes have also provided new insights into the accretion and magmatic evolution of planetary bodies including the Moon (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35).…”

“…Most Mg isotopic studies of lunar samples show a significant dichotomy between low-and high-Ti basalts (23,37,39). The isotope dichotomy in lunar basalts is also seen for other elements and is suggested to be the result of heterogeneities produced by the lunar magmatic differentiation (18,20,27,45); however, this assumption for Mg has not yet been well studied. Moreover, the isotopic composition of the lunar basalts is commonly used to estimate the isotopic composition of the BSM, but it remains unclear whether the basalts are the most representative of the BSM (27,32).…”