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Science 26 May 1995:
Vol. 268. no. 5214, pp. 1150 - 1153
DOI: 10.1126/science.268.5214.1150
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Articles

Abundance and Distribution of Iron on the Moon

Paul G. Lucey 1, G. Jeffrey Taylor 1, and Erick Malaret 2

1 Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2525 Correa Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
2 Applied Coherent Technology, Inc., 209 Elden Sheet, Suite 206, Herndon, VA 22070, USA.

The abundance and distribution of iron on the moon is derived from a near-global data set from Clementine. The determined iron content of the lunar highlands crust (sim3 percent iron by weight) supports the hypothesis that much of the lunar crust was derived from a magma ocean. The iron content of lower crustal material exposed by the South Pole-Aitken impact basin on the lunar farside is higher (sim7 to 8 percent by weight) and consistent with a basaltic composition. This composition supports earlier evidence that the lunar crust becomes more mafic with depth. The data also suggest that the bulk composition of the moon differs from that of the Earth's mantle. This difference excludes models for lunar origin that require the Earth and moon to have the same compositions, such as fission and coaccretion, and favors giant impact and capture.

Submitted on January 9, 1995
Accepted on April 17, 1995


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