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Breccia

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Encyclopedia of Lunar Science

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Definition

A large proportion of the lunar sample suite is comprised of brecciated rocks, formed through impact bombardment and/or thermal weathering in the upper portion of the lunar surface. These rocks are composed of lithic and mineral clasts, glasses (volcanic or impact origin), and have a matrix ranging from clastic to glassy. The variety of distinct clasts controls the classification of these rocks as either monomict (one rock type), dimict (two rock types), or polymict (many rock types). The shape and morphology of breccia clastic components varies from angular to subrounded. Variation in the observable texture of a breccia occurs as a result of crater stratigraphy and morphology (where breccias are associated with a crater), but also as a result of the maturity of regolith, rapid variation in temperature, availability of lithic material, and proximity of lithic and suevitic ejecta. The lithological components of breccias are dependent on the rock type(s) present at the impact...

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Acknowledgments

We thank NASA/JSC for the use of images from the Apollo sample catalogue (see Meyer 2012). We would like to thank Prof Mahesh Anand from The Open University, Mr Graham Ensor, and Mr Dustin Dickens for provision of NWA 11228, NWA 12592, and NWA 12593 as shown in Fig. 2. TSH would like to thank NASA’S Curation and Analysis Planning Team for Extraterrestrial Materials (CAPTEM) for allocation of lunar meteorite EET 96008 for study, as shown in Fig. 2. The US Antarctic meteorite samples are recovered by the Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) program which has been funded by NSF and NASA and characterized and curated by the Department of Mineral Sciences of the Smithsonian Institution and Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office at NASA Johnson Space Center. TSH receives funding from an STFC studentship and The Open University. KHJ receives funding from the Royal Society (URF\R\201009), STFC (ST/R000751/1), and the Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2019-222).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

    Tara S. Hayden & Thomas J. Barrett

  2. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Katherine H. Joy

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  1. Tara S. Hayden
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  2. Katherine H. Joy
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Correspondence to Tara S. Hayden .

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  1. Prairie View A&M University, Houston, TX, USA

    Brian Cudnik

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  1. Key Laboratory of Lunar and Deep-space Exploration, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, PR China

    Yuanzhi Zhang Dr.

  2. Center for Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, China

    Jianzhong Liu

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Hayden, T.S., Joy, K.H., Barrett, T.J. (2023). Breccia. In: Cudnik, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Lunar Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14541-9_136

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