Characterization of mesostasis regions in lunar basalts: Understanding late-stage melt evolution and its influence on apatite formation

Recent studies geared toward understanding the volatile abundances of the lunar interior have focused on the volatile-bearing accessory mineral apatite. Translating measurements of volatile abundances in lunar apatite into the volatile inventory of the silicate melts from which they crystallized, and ultimately of the mantle source regions of lunar magmas, however, has proved more difficult than initially thought. In this contribution, we report a detailed characterization of mesostasis regions in four Apollo mare basalts (10044, 12064, 15058, and 70035) in order to ascertain the compositions of the melts from which apatite crystallized. The texture, modal mineralogy, and reconstructed bulk composition of these mesostasis regions vary greatly within and between samples. There is no clear relationship between bulk-rock basaltic composition and that of bulk-mesostasis regions, indicating that bulk-rock composition may have little influence on mesostasis compositions. The development of individual melt pockets, combined with the occurrence of silicate liquid immiscibility, exerts greater control on the composition and texture of mesostasis regions. In general, the reconstructed late-stage lunar melts have roughly andesitic to dacitic compositions with low alkali contents, displaying much higher SiO2 abundances than the bulk compositions of their host magmatic rocks. Relevant partition coefficients for apatite-melt volatile partitioning under lunar conditions should, therefore, be derived from experiments conducted using intermediate compositions instead of compositions representing mare basalts

Characterization of mesostasis areas in mare basalts: constraining melt compositions from which apatite crystallizes

Crystallization of major silicate and oxide phases from basaltic melts produces late-stage liquids whose chemical compositions differ from the initial melt. These chemically evolved liquids crystallize phases in the interstitial mesostasis regions in lunar basaltic rocks. Enrichment of incompatible elements, including volatiles such as OH, F, Cl, is characteristic of these late-stage liquids and encourages growth of accessory phases including apatite [Ca5(PO4)2(F,Cl,OH)]. Apatite is the main volatile bearing crystalline phase in lunar rocks. It starts crystallizing after ~95% melt solidification in typical mare basalts, but could crystallize earlier, after ~85-90% solidification in KREEP basalts. Using the OH contents of apatites, several researchers have calculated water contents for parental magmas. These calculated parental magma water contents can then be used to estimate a range of values for water in the mantle source regions of mare basalts [e.g.,2-6]. Therefore, a better characterization of the mesostasis areas, and of the melts in which apatite forms, is paramount to gain further insights and constraints on water in the lunar interior, especially because important parameters such as partitioning of volatiles between late-stage melts and apatite remain poorly constrained

Magmatic and hydrothermal behavior of uranium in syntectonic leucogranites: The uranium mineralization associated with the Hercynian Guérande granite (Armorican Massif, France)

Most of the hydrothermal uranium (U) deposits from the European Hercynian belt (EHB) are spatially associated with Carboniferous peraluminous leucogranites. In the southern part of the Armorican Massif (French part of the EHB), the Guérande peraluminous leucogranite was emplaced in an extensional deformation zone at ca. 310 Ma and is spatially associated with several U deposits and occurrences. The apical zone of the intrusion is structurally located below the Pen Ar Ran U deposit, a perigranitic vein-type deposit where mineralization occurs at the contact between black shales and Ordovician acid metavolcanics. In the Métairie-Neuve intragranitic deposit, uranium oxide-quartz veins crosscut the granite and a metasedimentary enclave. Airborne radiometric data and published trace element analyses on the Guérande leucogranite suggest significant uranium leaching at the apical zone of the intrusion. The primary U enrichment in the apical zone of the granite likely occurred during both fractional crystallization and the interaction with magmatic fluids. The low Th/U values (18Owhole rock = 9.7–11.6‰ for deformed samples and δ18Owhole rock = 12.2–13.6‰ for other samples) indicate that the deformed facies of the apical zone underwent sub-solidus alteration at depth with oxidizing meteoric fluids. Fluid inclusion analyses on a quartz comb from a uranium oxide-quartz vein of the Pen Ar Ran deposit show evidence of low-salinity fluids (1–6 wt.% NaCl eq.), in good agreement with the contribution of meteoric fluids. Fluid trapping temperatures in the range of 250–350 °C suggest an elevated geothermal gradient, probably related to regional extension and the occurrence of magmatic activity in the environment close to the deposit at the time of its formation. U-Pb dating on uranium oxides from the Pen Ar Ran and Métairie-Neuve deposits reveals three different mineralizing events. The first event at 296.6 ± 2.6 Ma (Pen Ar Ran) is sub-synchronous with hydrothermal circulations and the emplacement of late leucogranitic dykes in the Guérande leucogranite. The two last mineralizing events occur at 286.6 ± 1.0 Ma (Métairie-Neuve) and 274.6 ± 0.9 Ma (Pen Ar Ran), respectively. Backscattered uranium oxide imaging combined with major elements and REE geochemistry suggest similar conditions of mineralization during the two Pen Ar Ran mineralizing events at ca. 300 Ma and ca. 275 Ma, arguing for different hydrothermal circulation phases in the granite and deposits. Apatite fission track dating reveals that the Guérande granite was still at depth and above 120 °C when these mineralizing events occurred, in agreement with the results obtained on fluid inclusions at Pen Ar Ran. Based on this comprehensive data set, we propose that the Guérande leucogranite is the main source for uranium in the Pen Ar Ran and Métairie-Neuve deposits. Sub-solidus alteration via surface-derived low-salinity oxidizing fluids likely promoted uranium leaching from magmatic uranium oxides within the leucogranite. The leached out uranium may then have been precipitated in the reducing environment represented by the surrounding black shales or graphitic quartzites. As similar mineralizing events occurred subsequently until ca. 275 Ma, meteoric oxidizing fluids likely percolated during the time when the Guérande leucogranite was still at depth. The age of the U mineralizing events in the Guérande region (300–275 Ma) is consistent with that obtained on other U deposits in the EHB and could suggest a similar mineralization condition, with long-term upper to middle crustal infiltration of meteoric fluids likely to have mobilized U from fertile peraluminous leucogranites during the Late Carboniferous to Permian crustal extension events

Using lunar apatite to assess the volatile inventory of the Moon

Lunar petrology, most notably the absense of hydrous minerals (such as micas and amphiboles) and the lack of Fe2O3, imply a low oxygen activity for the Moon. The anhydrous nature of the Moon is consistent with observed depletions in volatile elements compared to the Earth. Recent analytical developments have led to the re-investigation of lunar samples. In volcanic products, heterogeneous water contents in volcanic glass beads olivine-hosted melt inclusions and in the accessory phase apatite indicate a wetter lunar interior than previously thought. Analysis of lunar apatite has produced OH contents as high as ~12000 ppm and volatile contents of olivine-hosted melt inclusions appear to be similar to terrestrial mid-ocean ridge basalts values. However, analysis of Cl isotope compositions from a range of lunar rocks (basalts, glasses, apatite grains) identified a Cl fractionation 25 times larger than on Earth. This has been interpreted as reflecting a relatively dry lunar interior. The coupled nature of Cl and H, together with this high fractionation of Cl has been used to suggest the Moon’s mantle has H values as low as 10 ppb. To calculate the volatile contents of lunar melts, the partitioning behaviour of volatiles into apatite must be considered. Very little work has been done on the partition of volatiles under lunar conditions, however to fully constrain the H content of the magmatic source regions based on apatite grain measurements, determination of accurate partition coefficients is required. Experimental work using a piston-cylinder assembly at VU, University Amsterdam, is being carried out to derive these partition coefficients for volatiles (F, OH, Cl) between apatite and melts. Measurements of the volatile contents in experimental synthesised apatites are being carried out using a Cameca NanoSIMS 50L ion probe at the Open University. Primary experiments have looked at the temperature effect of F partitioning into apatite. This experimental work will be combined with measurements of Cl, F, and OH concentrations as well as Cl and H isotope compositions in mare basalts. This will provide better constraints on the volatile budget of the lunar magmatic source regions

Lunar basalt chronology, mantle differentiation and implications for determining the age of the Moon

Despite more than 40 years of studying Apollo samples, the age and early evolution of the Moon remain contentious. Following the formation of the Moon in the aftermath of a giant impact, the resulting Lunar Magma Ocean (LMO) is predicted to have generated major geochemically distinct silicate reservoirs, including the sources of lunar basalts. Samples of these basalts, therefore, provide a unique opportunity to characterize these reservoirs. However, the precise timing and extent of geochemical fractionation is poorly constrained, not least due to the difficulty in determining accurate ages and initial Pb isotopic compositions of lunar basalts. Application of an in situ ion microprobe approach to Pb isotope analysis has allowed us to obtain precise crystallization ages from six lunar basalts, typically with an uncertainty of about ±10Ma, as well as constrain their initial Pb-isotopic compositions. This has enabled construction of a two-stage model for the Pb-isotopic evolution of lunar silicate reservoirs, which necessitates the prolonged existence of high-μ reservoirs in order to explain the very radiogenic compositions of the samples. Further, once firm constraints on U and Pb partitioning behaviour are established, this model has the potential to help distinguish between conflicting estimates for the age of the Moon. Nonetheless, we are able to constrain the timing of a lunar mantle reservoir differentiation event at 4376±18Ma, which is consistent with that derived from the Sm–Nd and Lu–Hf isotopic systems, and is interpreted as an average estimate of the time at which the high-μ urKREEP reservoir was established and the Ferroan Anorthosite (FAN) suite was formed

In situ U–Pb dating of 4 billion-year-old carbonates in the martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001

In situ carbonate U–Pb dating studies have proliferated dramatically in recent years. Almost all these studies have targeted relatively young terrestrial calcite up to Carboniferous in age. To assess the robustness of the carbonate U–Pb chronometer in deep time, we carried out in situ U–Pb analyses in magnesite–ankerite–calcite carbonates in the martian meteorite Allan Hills (ALH) 84001. Carbonates in ALH 84001 formed at ca. 3.94 Ga, and there is little evidence that much happened to this rock since then, making it an ideal sample to test the robustness of the U–Pb system in old carbonates. We obtained a concordant date of 3941 ± 49/110 Ma (n=14, MSWD = 2.0), which is identical to the step-leaching Rb/Sr date determined previously. These results thus confirm that old carbonates are amenable to U–Pb dating in samples that have had a relatively simple history post-carbonate formation.</p

Two-stage partial melting during the Variscan extensional tectonics (Montagne Noire, France)

International audienceOne of the striking features that characterise the late stages of the Variscan orogeny is the development of gneiss and migmatite domes, as well as extensional Late Carboniferous and Permian sedimentary basins. It remains a matter of debate whether the formation of domes was related to the well documented late orogenic extension or to the contractional tectonics that preceded.Migmatization and magmatism are expected to predate extension if the domes are compression-related regional anticlines, but they must both precede and be contemporaneous with extension if they are extensional core complexes. In the Montagne Noire area (southern French Massif Central), where migmatization, magmatismand the deformation frameworkare well documented, the age of the extensional event was unequivocally constrained to 300-0Ma.Therefore,dating migmatization in this area is a key point for discriminating between the two hypotheses and understanding the Late Palaeozoic evolution of this part of the Variscan belt. For this purpose, a migmatite and an associated anatectic granite from the Montagne Noire dome were dated by LA-ICP-MS (U-Th/Pb onzircon and monazite) andlaser probe40Ar-39Ar (K-Ar on muscovite). Although zircon did not record any Variscan ageunequivocally related to compression (380-330Ma),two age groups were identified from the monazite crystals. A first event, at ca. 319 Ma (U-Th/Pb on monazite),is interpreted as a first stage of migmatization and as the emplacement age of the granite, respectively. A second event at ca. 298-295 Ma, recorded by monazite (U-Th/Pb) and by the muscovite 40Ar-39Ar system in the migmatite and in the granite, could be interpreted as a fluid-induced event, probably related to a second melting event identified through the syn-extensional emplacement of the nearby Montalet leucogranite ca. 295 Ma ago. The agesof these two events post-date the Variscan compression and agreewith an overall extensional context for the development of the Montagne Noire dome-shaped massif.Comparison of these results with published chemical (EPMA) dating of monazite from the samerocks demonstrates that the type of statistical treatment applied to EPMA data is crucial in order to resolve different monazite age populations

H and Cl isotope characteristics of indigenous and late hydrothermal fluids on the differentiated asteroidal parent body of Grave Nunataks 06128

The paired achondrites Graves Nunataks (GRA) 06128 and 06129 are samples of an asteroid that underwent partial melting within a few million years after the start of Solar System formation. In order to better constrain the origin and processing of volatiles in the early Solar System, we have investigated the abundance of H, F and Cl and the isotopic composition of H and Cl in phosphates in GRA 06128 using secondary ion mass spectrometry. Indigenous H in GRA 06128, as recorded in magmatic merrillite, is characterised by an average δD of ca. -152 ± 330‰, which is broadly similar to estimates of the H isotope composition of indigenous H in other differentiated asteroidal and planetary bodies such as Mars, the Moon and the angrite and eucrite meteorite parent bodies. The merrillite data thus suggest that early accretion of locally-derived volatiles was widespread for the bodies currently populating the asteroid belt. Apatite formed at the expense of merrillite around 100 million years after the differentiation of the GRA 06128/9 parent body, during hydrothermal alteration, which was probably triggered by an impact event. Apatite in GRA 06128 contains 5.4-5.7 wt.% Cl, 0.6-0.8 wt.% F, and ~20 to 60 ppm H2O, which is similar to the H2O abundance in merrillite from which apatite formed. The apatite δD values range between around +100‰ and +2000‰ and are inversely correlated with apatite H2O contents. The Cl isotope composition of apatite appears to be homogeneous across various grains, with an average δ37 Cl value of 3.2 ± 0.7‰. A possible scenario to account for the apatite chemical and isotopic characteristics involves interaction of GRA 06128/9 with fumarole-like fluids derived from D- and HCl-rich ices delivered to the GRA 06128/9 parent-body by an ice-rich impactor