This proposal will model how the impact-driven redistribution of pristine crustal and upper mantle material is reflected in the composition of the lunar surface. This will be accomplished through…

This is a $369,428 grant awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to model the impact-driven redistribution of lunar crustal and upper mantle material as reflected in the composition of the lunar surface. The work will be conducted through three focused tasks: developing initial conditions and impact models, constraining the initial compositional structure of the Moon, and studying the genesis and timing of the Procellarum KREEP Terrane (PKT). The grant does not have a set-aside designation. MIT, a private research university, frequently partners with the U.S. federal government on cutting-edge research and development projects across various scientific and technological fields, often through contracts and grants from agencies like the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and NASA.

This proposal will model how the impact-driven redistribution of pristine crustal and upper mantle material is reflected in the composition of the lunar surface. This will be accomplished through three focused tasks. In task 1 we will develop our initial conditions and impact model. We will develop six models for the origin (symmetry of lunar magma ocean (LMO) crystallization) and evolution (degree of overturn) of the lunar crust and mantle, from previously proposed LMO hypotheses. We will develop a unique structure of cumulate stratigraphy and composition for each model that satisfies a mass balance of the bulk lunar composition. We will also add multi-component tracking to the material tracking code that science-PI huang implemented in the impact bombardment code, cratered terrain evolution model (ctem) as part of her PH.d. In task 2 we will constrain the initial compositional structure of the moon by modeling the mixing of materials between feldspathic highlands terrane, south pole-aitken basin terrane, and procellarum kreep terrane and comparing our results to LP-GRS TH, FEO, AL2O3, and TIO2 abundance maps & grail crustal thickness maps. In task 3, we will study the genesis and timing of PKT by investigating the role of putative impact genesis on the temporal and spatial distribution of TH from PKT into the highlands.