Oxygen isotope constraints on the origin and differentiation of the Moon

Abstract

We report new high-precision laser fluorination three-isotope oxygen data for lunar materials. Terrestrial silicates with a range of δ 18O values (− 0.5 to 22.9‰) were analyzed to independently determine the slope of the terrestrial fractionation line (TFL; λ = 0.5259 ± 0.0008; 95% confidence level). This new TFL determination allows direct comparison of lunar oxygen isotope systematics with those of Earth. Values of Δ 17O for Apollo 12, 15, and 17 basalts and Luna 24 soil samples average 0.01‰ and are indistinguishable from the TFL. The δ 18O values of high- and low-Ti lunar basalts are distinct. Average whole-rock δ 18O values for low-Ti lunar basalts from the Apollo 12 (5.72 ± 0.06‰) and Apollo 15 landing sites (5.65 ± 0.12‰) are identical within error and are markedly higher than Apollo 17 high-Ti basalts (5.46 ± 0.11‰). Evolved low-Ti LaPaz mare-basalt meteorite δ 18O values (5.67 ± 0.05‰) are in close agreement with more primitive low-Ti Apollo 12 and 15 mare basalts. Modeling of lunar mare-basalt source composition indicates that the high- and low-Ti mare-basalt mantle reservoirs were in oxygen isotope equilibrium and that variations in δ 18O do not result from fractional crystallization. Instead, these differences are consistent with mineralogically heterogeneous mantle sources for mare basalts, and with lunar magma ocean differentiation models that result in a thick feldspathic crust, an olivine–pyroxene-rich mantle, and late-stage ilmenite-rich zones that were convectively mixed into deeper portions of the lunar mantle. Higher average δ 18O (WR) values of low-Ti basalts compared to terrestrial mid ocean ridge basalts (Δ=0.18‰) suggest a possible oxygen isotopic difference between the terrestrial and lunar mantles. However, calculations of the δ 18O of lunar mantle olivine in this study are only 0.05‰ higher than terrestrial mantle olivine. These observations may have important implications for understanding the formation of the Earth–Moon system.