THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE COMPONENTS OF LUNAR MATERIALS AND HOW THOSE COMPONENTS RELATE TO OUR OVERALL UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE MOON FORMED AND EVOLVED BY INVESTIGATING SAMPLES OBTAINED VIA THE APOLLO RETURN MISSIONS.THE PREVAILING THEORY FOR INITIAL DIFFERENTIATION OF THE MOON IS THE LUNAR MAGMA OCEAN (LMO). ACCORDING TO LMO THEORY AS IT COOLED THE FIRST PHASES TO CRYSTALLIZE OUT WERE DENSER THAN THE SURROUNDING LIQUID AND FORMED A MANTLE CUMULATE THAT VARIED IN COMPOSITION AS CRYSTALLIZATION PROGRESSED. MOST OF THE LUNAR CRUST WAS FORMED FROM A LESS DENSE MINERAL PHASE (PLAGIOCLASE) CRYSTALLIZING ANDFLOATING TO THE SURFACE OF THE LMO. THIS FLOATATION CUMULATE IS CONSIDERED TO BE REPRESENTED BY THE FERROAN ANORTHOSITE SUITE (FAN); THESE SHOULD BE THE OLDEST SAMPLES WE HAVE. OTHER PLAGIOCLASE-RICH CRUSTAL LITHOLOGIES (I.E. MG-SUITE) ARE INTERPRETED TO BE SUBSEQUENTMELTS OF LMO CUMULATES THAT WERE LATER INTRUDED INTO THE FAN CRUST AND SHOULD BE YOUNGER THAN THE FANS. HOWEVER RADIOMETRIC AGE DATING OF THESE HIGHLANDS COMPONENTS SHOWS THERE IS SIGNIFICANT OVERLAP BETWEEN FANS AND MG-SUITE AGES. ALSO SOME SAMPLES (E.G.FAN 60025) EVEN YIELD TWO DISTINCT AGE DATES FOR ONE ROCK AND NEW STUDIES OF FANS YIELD AN AGE RANGE OF ~268 MA WHICH EXCEEDS THE LENGTH ALLOWED BY MODERN LMO THEORY WITHOUT INTRODUCING NEW VARIABLES TO ACCOUNT FOR THE EXTENSION. THIS STUDY AIMS TO EXPLAIN THEPUBLISHED AGES OF FANS AND THE MG-SUITE BY CONSIDERING THE PETROLOGY OF THE INDIVIDUAL SAMPLES ON A SINGLE CRYSTAL SCALE AND RELATING HOW THESE FACTORS CAN BE USED TO INTERPRET THE PUBLISHED AGE DATA.IF INDIVIDUAL FAN AND MG-SUITE SAMPLES REPRESENT AN IMPACT-INDUCED MIXTURE OF SEVERAL LITHOLOGIES OF DIFFERENT AGES THEN AGES YIELDED VIA RADIOMETRIC AGE DATING TECHNIQUES WILL REFLECT THIS BY DISPLAYING DIFFERENT AGES RELATING TO THE PROPORTIONS OF THE DIFFERENT ITHOLOGIES PRESENT IN THE SAMPLE USED FOR AGE DATING. IT IS ALSO IMPORTANT TO CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITY OF RESET EVENTS AFFECTING THERADIOMETRIC CHRONOMETERS USED TO YIELD THE PUBLISHED AGES WHICH CAN BE ACHIEVED BY IDENTIFYING THE PRESENCE OR LACK THEREOF OF ORIGINAL FRACTIONATION TRENDS (E.G. PERCENT ANORTHITE VERSUS FEO WT.% FOR PLAGIOCLASE) IN THE MINERALS PRESENT. THIS STUDY USES A COMBINATION OF PETROGRAPHY ELECTRON MICROPROBE (EMP) AND LASER ABLATION (LA) ICP-MS ANALYSES TO IDENTIFY THE CHEMICAL MAKEUPOF INDIVIDUAL CRYSTAL GRAINS AND USE THEM TO ACCOUNT FOR THE PUBLISHED AGE DATE(S) FOR THE ROCK. ADDITIONALLY THIS STUDY WILL MODEL A RELATIVE SEQUENCE OF AGES FOR THESE MATERIALS USING CALCULATED EQUILIBRIUM LIQUIDS OF INCOMPATIBLE TRACE ELEMENTS (ITE) THAT SHOULDMATCH THE SEQUENCE PUT FORTH BY THE RADIOMETRIC AGE DATING TECHNIQUES IF THE SAMPLES ARE MONOLITHOLOGIC AND IF THE FANS CRYSTALLIZED FROM THE LMO. THE FIRST STEP IS TO BEGIN STUDYING A GROUP OF FANS AS THEIR AGE RANGE IS DIRECTLY AFFECTED BY THE AGE OF THE LMOBARRING ANY RESET EVENT IMPARTED ON THE ROCK. ONCE THIS GOAL HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED THE MG-SUITE WILL THEN BE INVESTIGATED USING THE SAME METHOD AS USED ON THE FANS TO DETERMINE THE SIGNIFICANCE AND CONFIDENCE OF ANY OVERLAP BETWEEN THE PUBLISHED AGES FOR THE TWOSAMPLE SUITES. ONCE COMPLETED THIS STUDY WILL PROVIDE A TEST OF THE LMO THEORY AND SHED LIGHT ON THE ENIGMATIC AGES DATES FOR BOTH THE FANS AND MG-SUITE SAMPLES.