Oxygen and iron isotope constraints on near-surface fractionation effects and the composition of lunar mare basalt source regions

Abstract

Oxygen and iron isotope analyses of low-Ti and high-Ti mare basalts are presented to constrain their petrogenesis and to assess stable isotope variations within lunar mantle sources. An internally-consistent dataset of oxygen isotope compositions of mare basalts encompasses five types of low-Ti basalts from the Apollo 12 and 15 missions and eight types of high-Ti basalts from the Apollo 11 and 17 missions. High-precision whole-rock δ 18O values (referenced to VSMOW) of low-Ti and high-Ti basalts correlate with major-element compositions (Mg#, TiO 2, Al 2O 3). The observed oxygen isotope variations within low-Ti and high-Ti basalts are consistent with crystal fractionation and match the results of mass-balance models assuming equilibrium crystallization. Whole-rock δ 56Fe values (referenced to IRMM-014) of high-Ti and low-Ti basalts range from 0.134‰ to 0.217‰ and 0.038‰ to 0.104‰, respectively. Iron isotope compositions of both low-Ti and high-Ti basalts do not correlate with indices of crystal fractionation, possibly owing to small mineral-melt iron fractionation factors anticipated under lunar reducing conditions. The δ 18O and δ 56Fe values of low-Ti and the least differentiated high-Ti mare basalts are negatively correlated, which reflects their different mantle source characteristics (e.g., the presence or absence of ilmenite). The average δ 56Fe values of low-Ti basalts (0.073 ± 0.018‰, n = 8) and high-Ti basalts (0.191 ± 0.020‰, n = 7) may directly record that of their parent mantle sources. Oxygen isotope compositions of mantle sources of low-Ti and high-Ti basalts are calculated using existing models of lunar magma ocean crystallization and mixing, the estimated equilibrium mantle olivine δ 18O value, and equilibrium oxygen-fractionation between olivine and other mineral phases. The differences between the calculated whole-rock δ 18O values for source regions, 5.57‰ for low-Ti and 5.30‰ for high-Ti mare basalt mantle source regions, are solely a function of the assumed source mineralogy. The oxygen and iron isotope compositions of lunar upper mantle can be approximated using these mantle source values. The δ 18O and δ 56Fe values of the lunar upper mantle are estimated to be 5.5 ± 0.2‰ (2 σ) and 0.085 ± 0.040‰ (2 σ), respectively. The oxygen isotope composition of lunar upper mantle is identical to the current estimate of Earth’s upper mantle (5.5 ± 0.2‰), and the iron isotope composition of the lunar upper mantle overlaps within uncertainty of estimates for the terrestrial upper mantle (0.044 ± 0.030‰).