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- Černok, Ana, et al.
(författare)
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Lunar samples record an impact 4.2 billion years ago that may have formed the Serenitatis Basin
- 2021
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Ingår i: Communications Earth & Environment. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2662-4435. ; 2:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Impact cratering on the Moon and the derived size-frequency distribution functions of lunar impact craters are used to determine the ages of unsampled planetary surfaces across the Solar System. Radiometric dating of lunar samples provides an absolute age baseline, however, crater-chronology functions for the Moon remain poorly constrained for ages beyond 3.9 billion years. Here we present U–Pb geochronology of phosphate minerals within shocked lunar norites of a boulder from the Apollo 17 Station 8. These minerals record an older impact event around 4.2 billion years ago, and a younger disturbance at around 0.5 billion years ago. Based on nanoscale observations using atom probe tomography, lunar cratering records, and impact simulations, we ascribe the older event to the formation of the large Serenitatis Basin and the younger possibly to that of the Dawes crater. This suggests the Serenitatis Basin formed unrelated to or in the early stages of a protracted Late Heavy Bombardment.
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2. |
- Evans, Katy, et al.
(författare)
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The origin of platinum group minerals in oceanic crust
- 2023
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Ingår i: Geology. - : Geological Society of America. - 0091-7613 .- 1943-2682. ; 51:6, s. 554-558
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Highly siderophile elements (HSEs), including Re and Os, are used extensively as geochemical tracers and geochronometers to investigate the formation and evolution of Earth's crust and mantle. Mantle rocks are commonly serpentinized, but the effect of serpentinization on the distribution of HSEs is controversial because HSEs are commonly hosted by rare, micrometer to sub-micrometer-scale grains of platinum group minerals (PGMs) of ambiguous origin that are challenging to identify, characterize, and interpret. In this study, atom probe tomography (APT) is used to characterize two spatially close PGM grains hosted by a partially serpentinized harzburgite from Macquarie Island, Australia. The APT data reveal an extraordinary level of detail that provides insights into the origin of a complex Cu-Pt alloy grain (average composition similar to Cu4Pt). The grain hosts Fe-, Ni-, and Pt-rich sub-grains associated with Rh, variably overlapping networks of Pd-and Cd-enrichment, and OH-rich volumes identified as fluid inclusions. Osmium and Ru are hosted by an idioblastic laurite (RuS2) grain. Compositional, textural, and phase-diagram constraints are consistent with a modified pre-serpentinization origin for the PGMs, and a comparison between observed and calculated grain distributions indicate that while Os isotope ratios were probably unaffected by serpentinization, whole-rock and grain-scale HSE and isotopic ratios may have been decoupled during serpentinization.
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