The Moon

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The only natural satellite of Earth, The Moon is 3,474km in diameter, around 1/4 of that of the Earth.

Geology and mineralogy of the Moon have been determined from lunar meteorites found on the Earth and samples returned by unmanned probes (USSR) and manned missions (the US Apollo mission) in the 1960s and the 1970s. Material returned from these missions is still being analysed today.

Formation and Geology of the Moon

The formation of the Moon is believed to have happened around 4.5 billion years ago as a result of a giant impact between the proto-Earth and a mars-sized planetary body. The debris from this collision accreted to form the Moon.

The Moon is now known to have a distinct crust, mantle and core, believed to have formed due to fractional crystallization of a global magma ocean shortly after the Moon's formation. The majority of the Moon's surface is beleived to be anorthosite (an intrusive igneous rock predominated by plagioclase feldspar), this makes up the light areas shown on the Moon's surface. The dark areas are made up of iron-poor basaltic lavas.

Lunar mineral localities

Although many samples of lunar meteorites (pieces of the Moon ejected due to collisions on the Moon which fell onto the Earth) have been found, their original location on the Moon's surface cannot be determined so the only localities that are listed for the Moon are the sites from successful USSR and US missions which returned samples to Earth for analysis. Samples were returned by three soviet unmanned probes (Luna 16, 20 and 24) and six US manned Apollo missions (Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17). All of these localities are listed here on Mindat.

Mineral List

Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities

Acanthite Akaganeite Albite 'Albite-Anorthite Series' Almandine Aluminium Aluminotschermakite Anhydrite Anorthite Antimony Aragonite ? Armalcolite (TL) Augite Awaruite Baddeleyite Baryte Bastnäsite-(Ce) Biotite Bornite Brass Calcite 'Carbon Dioxide' Celestine Chalcopyrite Chromite var: Aluminian Chromite Chromium Clinoenstatite 'Clinopyroxene Subgroup' Cobalt Cohenite Copper Corundum Cristobalite Cubanite

'Cu-Zn alloy' Daubréelite Diopside Dolomite Enstatite var: Bronzite Farringtonite ? Fayalite Ferrosilite Fluorapatite Fluorite Forsterite 'Glass' Goethite Gold Greenockite Halite Hapkeite Hedenbergite Hematite ? Hercynite 'Hornblende' Hypersthene Ice Ilmenite Indium Iron var: Kamacite Kaersutite 'K Feldspar' Lead Mackinawite Magnesio-arfvedsonite Magnesite Magnetite ?

Maskelynite 'Melilite Group' ? Merrillite Moissanite ? Molybdenite Molybdenum Monazite-(Ce) Nickel Niningerite 'Olivine' Oxycalciopyrochlore var: Titan-uranoan Oxycalciopyrochlore Oxyuranobetafite (TL) Pentlandite Perovskite Pigeonite Pyrite Pyrochlore Group Pyrochlore Supergroup var: Yttrobetafite (of Hogarth 1977) 'Pyroxene Group' Pyroxferroite (TL) Quartz Rhenium Rutile var: Niobian Rutile Scheelite Schreibersite 'Silica' Silver Spessartine ? Sphalerite Spinel 'Sulfur Dioxide' Sylvite Taenite Talnakhite ?

Tantalum Thorite Tin Titanite Tranquillityite (TL) Tridymite Troilite Tungsten Ulvöspinel UM2001-06-E:CrFeNi UM2003-03-E:AgAuCuZn UM2004-18-O:AlCaGdThTlZr UM2004-19-O:AlCeGdZr UM2004-20-O:AlGdLaThTiZr UM2004-21-O:CaFeGdZr UM2004-28-O:GdTiZr 'Unnamed (Ca-Gd-Fe-Zr Oxide)' 'Unnamed (Fe-Sn II)' 'Unnamed (Gd-Fe-Al Silicate)' 'Unnamed (K Perrhenate)' 'Unnamed (Mn-Ca-Ce-Ti Oxide)' 'Unnamed (Mn-Ca-Ti Oxide)' 'Unnamed (Mn-Ca-Zr-Ti Oxide)' 'Unnamed (Rh Iodide)' ''Unnamed (Ta-Mo intermetallide)'' Wurtzite Wüstite ? Yoshiokaite (TL) Ytterbium Zinc Zircon Zirconolite

145 entries listed. 95 valid minerals. 5 type localities (valid minerals).

Localities in this Region

The Moon Apollonius Highlands Luna 20 landing site Descartes Highlands Apollo 16 landing site Fra Mauro Highlands Fra Mauro Base (Apollo 14 landing site) Basalt 14053 Mare Crisium Luna 24 landing site Mare Fecunditatis Luna 16 landing site Mare Imbrium Lunar 17 landing site Palus Putredinis Apollo 15 landing site area Hadley Rille meteorite Mare Insularum Surveyor 3 landing site

The Moon Mare Serenitatis Le Monnier crater Luna 21 landing site Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility) Surveyor 5 landing site Tranquillity Base (Apollo 11 landing site) North Polar Region Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms) Apollo 12 landing site Bench Crater meteorite Luna 13 landing site Luna 9 landing site Sinus Medii Surveyor 6 landing site Southern Highlands Surveyor 7 landing site Taurus-Littrow Valley Apollo 17 landing site

References

External Links