Significance of silicate liquid immiscibility for the origin of young highly evolved lithic clasts in Chang’E-5 regolith

• Published in: Geochimica et cosmochimica acta Vol. 340; pp. 189 - 205
• Main Authors: Yang, Jing, Ju, Dongyang, Pang, Runlian, Li, Rui, Liu, Jianzhong, Du, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2023
• Subjects: Chang’E-5; Highly evolved lithology; Moon; Silicate liquid immiscibility; Silicic magmatism; Chang’E-5; Silicic magmatism; Highly evolved lithology; Moon; Silicate liquid immiscibility
• ISSN: 0016-7037; 1872-9533
• DOI: 10.1016/j.gca.2022.11.008

Highly evolved lithology distributes across the Moon sparsely but serves as a critical record of the extensive differentiation processes of lunar magmas. In contrast to the Apollo-returned highly evolved rocks that essentially formed before the end of the Nectarian period, silicic lithologies detected by remote sensing within the nearside Procellarum KREEP Terrane (PKT) have cratering model age as young as ∼2.5 Ga (Chevrel et al., 2009). The formation mechanism of the young silicic magmatism remains enigmatic. Here we present a detailed study of lithic clasts with highly evolved compositions from the northwestern PKT returned by Chang’E-5 mission. Two different types of highly evolved lithic clasts were recognized: (a) Type A clasts predominately consist of granophyric intergrowths of K-feldspar and quartz. They are highly depleted in incompatible elements (except for K, Rb, Cs, and Ba) and have a V-shaped REE pattern, which can be explained by silicate liquid immiscibility (SLI) following the fractionation of merrillite from a KREEP-like melt. The microtextural features of quartz in Type A clasts indicate that they could have crystallized through relatively slow cooling at temperature below 870 °C, supporting a shallow intrusive origin. The silicic intrusion exposed in the interior, rim, and ejecta of Aristarchus crater has a cratering model age of ∼2.5–3.7 Ga, which could be the source for Type A clasts; (b) Type B clast has little MgO, high incompatible element concentrations, and an REE pattern inclined to the right. Thermodynamic calculations indicate that Type B clast likely formed through SLI of the ∼25% residual melt of Em3 basalts in the Chang’E-5 landing region. This is consistent with the crystallization age of 2.57 ± 0.26 Ga for the zirconolite in Type B clast. The highly evolved samples from Chang’E-5 regolith provide new evidence that SLI may have played an important role in the young highly evolved intrusive bodies’ formation on the Moon. Furthermore, our thermodynamic modeling results show that compared to KREEP basalt, partial melting of quartz monzodiorite/monzogabbro at ∼930–1000 °C can produce melts with composition close to lunar granites and felsites. Thus, if a series of silicic volcanisms distributed mostly within the PKT was generated through this mechanism, quartz monzodiorite/monzogabbro may also widely distribute within the lunar nearside upper crust.