Abstract
Microprobe analyses show that whitlockite from lunar rocks is enriched in REE relative to the associated apatite, whereas a terrestrial whitlockite is severely depleted in REE relative to the associated apatite. After considering other possibilities, we suggest that the lunar whitlockite originally crystallized as the high-T polymorph, which is capable of taking up excess CaO (and REE?). Inversion to the low-T form has been inhibited by the non-stoichiometry, so that the present “whitlockite” phase is poorly crystalline. Similar relations may exist in terrestrial basalts of low water content, but would be easily overlooked in petrographic studies.
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