Petrogenesis of Chang’e-6 Basalts and Implication for the Young Volcanism on the Lunar Farside

Mare basalts from lunar farside are pivotal for unraveling lunar nearside-farside dichotomies and global thermal history. The Chang’e-6 (CE-6) mission conducted the first sampling from a young basaltic unit within the Apollo basin on the lunar farside. Here, we performed comprehensive petrological a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chengxiang Yin, Jian Chen, Xiaohui Fu, Haijun Cao, Xuejin Lu, Yiheng Liu, Jin Li, Siyue Chi, Xiaojia Zeng, Zongcheng Ling
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adaf20
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850079661173768192
author Chengxiang Yin
Jian Chen
Xiaohui Fu
Haijun Cao
Xuejin Lu
Yiheng Liu
Jin Li
Siyue Chi
Xiaojia Zeng
Zongcheng Ling
author_facet Chengxiang Yin
Jian Chen
Xiaohui Fu
Haijun Cao
Xuejin Lu
Yiheng Liu
Jin Li
Siyue Chi
Xiaojia Zeng
Zongcheng Ling
author_sort Chengxiang Yin
collection DOAJ
description Mare basalts from lunar farside are pivotal for unraveling lunar nearside-farside dichotomies and global thermal history. The Chang’e-6 (CE-6) mission conducted the first sampling from a young basaltic unit within the Apollo basin on the lunar farside. Here, we performed comprehensive petrological and geochemical analyses on the CE-6 basalt clasts. The CE-6 basalt is a low-titanium basalt (about 5 wt% TiO _2 ) depleted in KREEP components. The absence of olivine, particularly magnesium-rich olivine, suggests that the basaltic magma underwent extensive fractional crystallization. Thermodynamic modeling supports that there may be 10%–20% late-stage cumulates of magma ocean (clinopyroxene and ilmenite) present in the source region of CE-6 basalt. The magma derived from the partial melting of such lunar mantle may undergo fractional crystallization dominated by olivine and clinopyroxene within a shallow magma cg1hamber, followed by eruption. Modeling of the REE pattern further indicates that 3%–7% batch melting of a depleted lunar mantle source, combined with 21%–59% fractional crystallization, achieves the observed REE abundances of CE-6 basalt. The genesis of CE-6 basalt could be attributed to the synergistic influence of a readily fusible mantle source, resulting from the incorporation of late-stage cumulates, and the crust-mantle deformation induced by large impacts. This could serve as a paradigm for the formation of other young basalts on the Moon.
format Article
id doaj-art-a76f2091b5d64313a2a1d9291442681d
institution DOAJ
issn 2041-8205
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher IOP Publishing
record_format Article
series The Astrophysical Journal Letters
spelling doaj-art-a76f2091b5d64313a2a1d9291442681d2025-08-20T02:45:09ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal Letters2041-82052025-01-019811L210.3847/2041-8213/adaf20Petrogenesis of Chang’e-6 Basalts and Implication for the Young Volcanism on the Lunar FarsideChengxiang Yin0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9763-4098Jian Chen1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3759-0254Xiaohui Fu2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8818-7345Haijun Cao3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0054-9557Xuejin Lu4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5274-5069Yiheng Liu5Jin Li6Siyue Chi7Xiaojia Zeng8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6536-779XZongcheng Ling9https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9260-5765Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, School of Space Science and Technology, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, People’s Republic of China ; fuxh@sdu.edu.cnShandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, School of Space Science and Technology, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, People’s Republic of China ; fuxh@sdu.edu.cnShandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, School of Space Science and Technology, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, People’s Republic of China ; fuxh@sdu.edu.cn; CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of ChinaShandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, School of Space Science and Technology, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, People’s Republic of China ; fuxh@sdu.edu.cnShandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, School of Space Science and Technology, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, People’s Republic of China ; fuxh@sdu.edu.cnShandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, School of Space Science and Technology, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, People’s Republic of China ; fuxh@sdu.edu.cnShandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, School of Space Science and Technology, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, People’s Republic of China ; fuxh@sdu.edu.cnShandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, School of Space Science and Technology, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, People’s Republic of China ; fuxh@sdu.edu.cnCenter for Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Guiyang, People’s Republic of ChinaShandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, School of Space Science and Technology, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University , Weihai 264209, People’s Republic of China ; fuxh@sdu.edu.cn; CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of ChinaMare basalts from lunar farside are pivotal for unraveling lunar nearside-farside dichotomies and global thermal history. The Chang’e-6 (CE-6) mission conducted the first sampling from a young basaltic unit within the Apollo basin on the lunar farside. Here, we performed comprehensive petrological and geochemical analyses on the CE-6 basalt clasts. The CE-6 basalt is a low-titanium basalt (about 5 wt% TiO _2 ) depleted in KREEP components. The absence of olivine, particularly magnesium-rich olivine, suggests that the basaltic magma underwent extensive fractional crystallization. Thermodynamic modeling supports that there may be 10%–20% late-stage cumulates of magma ocean (clinopyroxene and ilmenite) present in the source region of CE-6 basalt. The magma derived from the partial melting of such lunar mantle may undergo fractional crystallization dominated by olivine and clinopyroxene within a shallow magma cg1hamber, followed by eruption. Modeling of the REE pattern further indicates that 3%–7% batch melting of a depleted lunar mantle source, combined with 21%–59% fractional crystallization, achieves the observed REE abundances of CE-6 basalt. The genesis of CE-6 basalt could be attributed to the synergistic influence of a readily fusible mantle source, resulting from the incorporation of late-stage cumulates, and the crust-mantle deformation induced by large impacts. This could serve as a paradigm for the formation of other young basalts on the Moon.https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adaf20The MoonLunar petrologyLunar mineralogyLunar science
spellingShingle Chengxiang Yin
Jian Chen
Xiaohui Fu
Haijun Cao
Xuejin Lu
Yiheng Liu
Jin Li
Siyue Chi
Xiaojia Zeng
Zongcheng Ling
Petrogenesis of Chang’e-6 Basalts and Implication for the Young Volcanism on the Lunar Farside
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
The Moon
Lunar petrology
Lunar mineralogy
Lunar science
title Petrogenesis of Chang’e-6 Basalts and Implication for the Young Volcanism on the Lunar Farside
title_full Petrogenesis of Chang’e-6 Basalts and Implication for the Young Volcanism on the Lunar Farside
title_fullStr Petrogenesis of Chang’e-6 Basalts and Implication for the Young Volcanism on the Lunar Farside
title_full_unstemmed Petrogenesis of Chang’e-6 Basalts and Implication for the Young Volcanism on the Lunar Farside
title_short Petrogenesis of Chang’e-6 Basalts and Implication for the Young Volcanism on the Lunar Farside
title_sort petrogenesis of chang e 6 basalts and implication for the young volcanism on the lunar farside
topic The Moon
Lunar petrology
Lunar mineralogy
Lunar science
url https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adaf20
work_keys_str_mv AT chengxiangyin petrogenesisofchange6basaltsandimplicationfortheyoungvolcanismonthelunarfarside
AT jianchen petrogenesisofchange6basaltsandimplicationfortheyoungvolcanismonthelunarfarside
AT xiaohuifu petrogenesisofchange6basaltsandimplicationfortheyoungvolcanismonthelunarfarside
AT haijuncao petrogenesisofchange6basaltsandimplicationfortheyoungvolcanismonthelunarfarside
AT xuejinlu petrogenesisofchange6basaltsandimplicationfortheyoungvolcanismonthelunarfarside
AT yihengliu petrogenesisofchange6basaltsandimplicationfortheyoungvolcanismonthelunarfarside
AT jinli petrogenesisofchange6basaltsandimplicationfortheyoungvolcanismonthelunarfarside
AT siyuechi petrogenesisofchange6basaltsandimplicationfortheyoungvolcanismonthelunarfarside
AT xiaojiazeng petrogenesisofchange6basaltsandimplicationfortheyoungvolcanismonthelunarfarside
AT zongchengling petrogenesisofchange6basaltsandimplicationfortheyoungvolcanismonthelunarfarside