Experimental lunar magma ocean crystallization

The accretion of the Moon was followed by a lunar magma ocean stage. The fractional crystallization of this magma ocean was experimentally simulated. The results yield the primordial stratification of the Moon from the cumulative mantle to the primordial crust. In detail, the mineral composition, the thickness of each layer and the evolving melt composition are determined. The results show that reworking (likely through overturn induced by Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities) of this primordial cumulate layers is required to explain some of the lunar magmatic suites and also to explain a very much reduced modern crustal thickness with respect to the primordial one. The data file contains the analyses of minerals and melts across the entire fractional crystallization interval as well as mineral modes and layer thicknesses of each fractionation step.