Systematic global mixing and melting in lunar soil evolution

Abstract

We present a revised model of soil evolution constrained by the recent LSCC data for lunar soils. In addition to an observed universal increase in feldspathic components in the finer fractions of soils [Taylor et al., 2001, 2003a, 2003b], both differential melting and lateral mixing processes appear to be required during the evolution of lunar soils. We propose mare-highland mixing of a significant glass component along with a preferential melting sequence for agglutinitic glass formation of: glass > plagioclase > pyroxene ≫ ilmenite. © 2003 by the American Geophysical Union.