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Experimental modeling of the origin of the Moon’s metallic core at partial melting

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Abstract

Geochemical criteria of the Moon’s composition as deficient in Fe and depleted in volatile components and the distribution of siderophile elements in the planet offer the possibility of correlating, under certain conditions, the origin of the Moon and its core from an initial material of composition close to CI carbonaceous chondrites. In order to verify the model of the percolation of liquid metallic Fe through a silicate matrix of chondritic composition at low degrees of melting, we have experimentally modeled Fe movement and deposition in the course of high-temperature centrifugation. The starting experimental mixture had the composition 85% Ol, 10% ferropicrite, and 5% Fe-S (95% Fe and 5% S); the experimental conditions were 4000 g “gravity”, T = 1440°C, Δ log fO2(IW) ∼ −5.5. In our experiments, Fe was segregated in systems with Fe sulfide and silicate melts at partial melting under reduced conditions and the deformation of the silicate framework. Our results indicate that the Moon could be produced from a material of composition close to CI carbonaceous chondrite.

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  1. Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Kosygina 19, Moscow, 119991, Russia

    E. B. Lebedev & E. M. Galimov

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  1. E. B. Lebedev
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Correspondence to E. B. Lebedev.

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Original Russian Text © E.B. Lebedev, E.M. Galimov, 2012, published in Geokhimiya, 2012, Vol. 50, No. 8, pp. 715–725.

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Lebedev, E.B., Galimov, E.M. Experimental modeling of the origin of the Moon’s metallic core at partial melting. Geochem. Int. 50, 639–648 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016702912080046

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