Introduction
Basalt is the fine-grained, mafic igneous rock produced as a result of extrusive basaltic magmatism, one of the fundamental processes that shape the interiors and surfaces of differentiated planetary bodies. Mineralogically, basalt is characterized by relatively high proportions of olivine, pyroxene, and calcic plagioclase feldspar, the crystallization of which produces volcanic products with overall low SiO2 (<52 wt. %), low alkali (typically <5 wt. % Na2O + K2O), high MgO (often >5 wt. %), and high CaO (up to ~10 wt. %) contents. Basaltic lavas are often emplaced during effusive eruptions and form outflows that can be broadly characterized as either ‘a‘ā or pāhoehoe (BVSP 1981; Self et al. 1998; Wilson 2009). On the Moon, basaltic outflows collectively cover ~17% of the lunar surface (see Fig. 1; Head 1976; for more information, the reader is referred to Ma 2018). Many of the basaltic units observed on the lunar surface are confined to the lunar near side, where they...
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Gawronska, A.J., McLeod, C. (2023). Basalt. In: Cudnik, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Lunar Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14541-9_135
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