A. L. Fagan’s research while affiliated with Western Carolina University and other places

... Likewise, thanks to the extremely low temperatures in the lunar south pole (below 110 K) [8], PSRs can act as cold traps capable of storing both volatile compounds and water ice over time [9][10][11]. Obviously, both the main objectives and other experimental scientific tests on the lunar surface must be carried out without posing a risk to astronauts [12,13]. ...

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Prioritizing Astronaut Traverses on the Moon: A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making approach

... We performed P-T grid calculations from 0.2 to 1.8 GPa, with pressure increments of 0.06 GPa and temperature ranges from 1,100°C to 1,600°C, with increments of 5°C. Oxygen fugacity (logfO 2 ) is kept at IW 2 (IW represents iron-wüstite thermodynamic equilibrium), which is the general fO 2 estimate for the lunar mantle (e.g., Cartier & Wood, 2019;Dygert et al., 2020;Ji & Dygert, 2024;Karner et al., 2006). We note that varying logfO 2 from IW 2 to IW has negligible effect on the calculation. ...

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Mantle Melting Conditions of Mare Lavas on South Pole–Aitken Basin of Lunar Farside

... One of the two major regions on the moon, Highlands, the bright areas, are entirely composed of anorthosites, which are rich in aluminum, calcium, and extremely widespread KREEP rocks enriched in K (potassium), P (phosphorous), and REE (rare earth element). Anorthosites have calcium-rich plagioclase and low calcium pyroxene (in significantly less amount), olivine, clinopyroxene, and Mg-rich rocks, which further have dunite, norite, spinel troctonite, troctonite, and gabbro anorthosite (Burke 1986;Papike et al. 1991;Warren 2005;Fagan 2016;Heiken et al. 1991). ...

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Absorption, Absorption Spectrum in Lunar Studies

... The breccia and mixed lithology REE profiles are the most distinct from the basalts in the LREE. The overall depletion of REE in the mixed lithology subsamples relative to the breccia matrix can be explained by the incorporation of varying amounts of plagioclase into an amalgamation of the average 60639 basalt component and the average of the two separate breccia matrix components from Clasts 2 and 3. A plagioclase composition from an Apollo 16 cataclastic anorthosite (60618,4;Fagan, 2012) is selected as a typical highlands plagioclase with most chondrite-normalized REE concentrations of 6 or less, a large positive Eu anomaly, and An 97 . By combining $20% average 60639 basalt + 56% average Clast 2 breccia + 24% plagioclase, the calculated REE profile is a near perfect match to the average mixed lithology (Table 8). ...

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A New Lunar High-Ti Basalt Type Defined from Clasts in Apollo 16 Breccia 60639

... We collected 125 sets of lunar sample data from the Apollo and Luna missions (Fagan & Neal, 2016;Wieczorek, 2006;Zeigler et al., 2006), and 30 sets of lunar meteorite sample data (Day et al., 2006;Elardo et al., 2014;Gnos et al., 2004;Greshake et al., 2008;Haloda et al., 2006Haloda et al., , 2009Warren, 1993;Zeigler et al., 2005). These data sets were filtered to include only valid FeO and TiO 2 content data. ...

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FeO and TiO2 Maps of the Lunar Polar Regions Derived From the Clementine Data

... As a result, a refined understanding of impacts into the lunar regolith will yield greater insight into the geologic history and evolution of the Moon (e.g., Joy et al., 2012;McKay et al., 1986), and the production and processing of potentially accessible resources, such as hydroxyl (e.g., Liu et al., 2012;Pieters et al., 2009). Lunar regolith is mostly formed by impact processing (e.g., Fagan et al., 2014;McKay et al., 1991) and has been extensively studied in samples returned by the Apollo, Luna, and Chang'e Programs (e.g., Fruland, 1983;Li et al., 2021;Lucey et al., 2006). Impacts can also deliver surface material from planetary objects to Earth by ejecting shock-compacted regolith. ...

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Tissintite-II in Lunar Meteorite Northwest Africa 13967: Implications for the High Pressure/Temperature Mineralogy of the Lunar Regolith

... The bulk chemistry and petrography of NCB-01 are consistent with other CE-5 basalts (endogenic basalts). However, it is worth noting that basaltic impact melt rocks with similar textures and chemistries are well known from the Moon (Fagan et al., 2013;Neal et al., 2015). Previous studies have proposed non-destructive methods to distinguish between endogenic basalts and basaltic impact melt rocks, mainly focusing on (a) geochemical characteristics of olivine and (b) textural characteristics of plagioclase (Fagan et al., 2013;Neal et al., 2015). ...

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Petrography, Crystallography, and Geochronology of Baddeleyite With Two Morphologies in a Chang'e‐5 Lunar Basalt

... We collected 125 sets of lunar sample data from the Apollo and Luna missions (Fagan & Neal, 2016;Wieczorek, 2006;Zeigler et al., 2006), and 30 sets of lunar meteorite sample data (Day et al., 2006;Elardo et al., 2014;Gnos et al., 2004;Greshake et al., 2008;Haloda et al., 2006Haloda et al., , 2009Warren, 1993;Zeigler et al., 2005). These data sets were filtered to include only valid FeO and TiO 2 content data. ...

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FeO and TiO2 Maps of the Lunar Polar Regions Derived From the Clementine Data

... Melt rock 3.879 ± 0.022 Ga (67095,124;Fagan et al., 2013) 67095,125 (this study) 68416 ...

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Diverse impactors in Apollo 15 and 16 impact melt rocks: Evidence from osmium isotopes and highly siderophile elements

... This paper presents a quantitative petrographic method that distinguishes basaltic samples formed through endogenic processes from those formed by impacts using olivine and plagioclase crystal size distributions (CSDs). Comparison of the slopes and y-axis intercepts of these CSDs allows the distinction to be made between the two petrogeneses and builds upon the work of several recent contributions (Oshrin, 2009;Oshrin and Neal, 2009;Hui et al., 2011;Fagan, 2012;O'Sullivan, 2012;Fagan et al., 2013a;and Fagan and Neal, 2012;Donohue, 2013). During these studies, it has been demonstrated that phenocrysts can be distinguished from xenocrysts in impact melts by texture and composition (e.g., Figs. ...

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Distinguishing between basalts produced by endogenic volcanism and impact processes: A non-destructive method using quantitative petrography of lunar basaltic samples