Oxygen isotope constraints on the origin and differentiation of the Moon

We report new high-precision laser fluorination three-isotope oxygen data for lunar materials. Terrestrial silicates with a range of delta O-18 values (-0.5 to 22.9 parts per thousand) were analyzed to independently determine the slope of the terrestrial fractionation line (TFL; lambda = 0.5259 +/- 0.0008; 95% confidence level). This new TFL determination allows direct comparison of lunar oxygen isotope systematics with those of Earth. Values of Delta O-17 for Apollo 12, 15, and 17 basalts and Luna 24 soil samples average 0.01 parts per thousand and are indistinguishable from the TFL. The delta O-18 values of high- and low-Ti lunar basalts are distinct. Average whole-rock delta O-18 values for low-Ti lunar basalts from the Apollo 12 (5.72 +/- 0.06 parts per thousand) and Apollo 15 landing sites (5.65 +/- 0.12 parts per thousand) are identical within error and are markedly higher than Apollo 17 high-Ti basalts (5.46 +/- 0.11 parts per thousand). Evolved low-Ti LaPaz mare-basalt meteorite delta O-18 values (5.67 +/- 0.05 parts per thousand) are in close agreement with more primitive low-Ti Apollo 12 and 15 mare basalts. Modeling of lunar mare-basalt source composition indicates that the high- and low-Ti mare-basalt mantle reservoirs were in oxygen isotope equilibrium and that variations in delta O-18 do not result from fractional crystallization. Instead, these differences are consistent with mineralogically heterogeneous mantle sources for mare basalts, and with lunar magma ocean differentiation models that result in a thick feldspathic crust, an olivine-pyroxene-rich mantle, and late-stage ilmenite-rich zones that were convectively mixed into deeper portions of the lunar mantle. Higher average delta O-18 (WR) values of low-Ti basalts compared to terrestrial mid ocean ridge basalts (Delta=0.18 parts per thousand) suggest a possible oxygen isotopic difference between the terrestrial and lunar mantles. However, calculations of the delta O-18 of lunar mantle olivine in this study are only 0.05 parts per thousand higher than terrestrial mantle olivine. These observations may have important implications for understanding the formation of the Earth-Moon system. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.