Petrogenesis of Luna 16 aluminous Mare basalts

This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the American Geophysical Union and can be found at: http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/.Bulk compositions, petrology and mineralogy of > 0.5 mm Luna 16 aluminous mare basalt particles are described. The data rule out any close genetic relationships between Luna 16 and other major types of lunar mare basalts. Compared to high‐Ti mare basalts, the Luna 16 basalts contain lower TiO₂ (5.1 wt %) and Ta (~ 0.8 ppm) and higher Al₂O₃ (13.3 wt %) and REE (~ 30‐70X chondrites) abundances, suggesting that the Luna 16 source rocks crystallized later than (i.e. stratigraphically above) the ilmenite‐bearing high‐Ti basalt cumulate source rocks. The REE pattern for the Luna 16 basalts requires that the source material from which they were derived crystallized from a light REE enriched magma