THIS PROPOSAL APPLIES MULTI-ANVIL AND PISTON-CYLINDER TECHNIQUES TO PROBLEMS IN PLANETARY DIFFERENTIATION. WE PROPOSE HERE TO UNDERTAKE TWO EXPERIMENTAL TASKS: 1) DETERMINE THE COMPRESSIBILITY AND DENSITY OF LUNAR MAGMAS AT HIGH PRESSURE AND (2) DETERMINE THE EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE PRESSURE OXYGEN FUGACITY AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION ON THE PARTITIONING OF MOLYBDENUM AND TUNGSTEN BETWEEN MANTLE AND CORE. RESULTS FROM THESE STUDIES SHOULD ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE EARLY DIFFERENTIATION OF THE MOON AND THE TERRESTRIAL PLANETS. BOTH TASKS ARE LABORATORY STUDIES THAT ARE NECESSARY TO INTERPRET DATA FROM THE MOON AND TEST HYPOTHESES ABOUT THE EARLY THE EARTH. THUS THIS PROPOSAL IS CLEARLY RELEVANT TO THE GOALS OF NASA AS DESCRIBED IN RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES IN SPACE AND EARTH SCIENCES (ROSES) - 2010 PERTAINING TO THE SCOPE OF THE COSMOCHEMISTRY PROGRAM.

University Of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM

Investigators