Sheng Si-Zhang, Wang Shui-Jiong, Li Qiu-Li, Wu Shitou, Wang Hao, Hua Jun-Xiang, Chen Zhenyu, Hao Jin-Hua, Zhang Bo, He Yongsheng, Zhu Jian-Ming
State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, China.
Frontiers Science Center for Deep-time Digital Earth, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, China.
Nat Commun. 2025 Apr 23;16(1):3759. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-58820-4.
The lunar mantle is important for unraveling the Moon's formation and early differentiation processes. Here, we identify primitive lunar olivines in soils returned by the Chang'e-6 mission. These olivines have oxygen isotopic compositions plotting along the terrestrial fractionation line, and are characterized by high forsterite contents up to 95.6, and a broad range of nickel abundances from zero to 682 ppm. While the low-nickel (zero to 251 ppm), forsteritic olivines align with a Mg-suite origin, the most primitive, high-nickel olivines (337 to 682 ppm) have a different origin. They could be either the first olivine crystallized from the Lunar Magma Ocean (LMO) with an Earth-like initial composition, or crystallized from a hitherto unrecognized ultra-magnesian lava produced by extensive melting of the early LMO cumulate. The exposure of these mantle olivines was facilitated by their entrainment in ascending high-Mg lavas and conveyed to the surface at the South Pole-Aitken Basin.
月球地幔对于揭示月球的形成和早期分化过程至关重要。在此，我们在嫦娥六号任务带回的土壤中识别出了原始的月球橄榄石。这些橄榄石的氧同位素组成沿地球分馏线分布，其特征是镁橄榄石含量高达95.6，镍丰度范围广泛，从零到682 ppm。虽然低镍（零到251 ppm）的镁橄榄石与镁质套源一致，但最原始的高镍橄榄石（337到682 ppm）有不同的起源。它们可能要么是从具有类似地球初始成分的月海岩浆洋（LMO）中结晶出的首批橄榄石，要么是从早期LMO堆积物大量熔融产生的迄今未被认识的超镁质熔岩中结晶出来的。这些地幔橄榄石因被卷入上升的高镁熔岩中而被带到南极艾特肯盆地的地表，从而得以暴露。
