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| | Moon Rocks through a Microscope |
 | | Plutonic Igneous Rocks of the Moon: The original crustal rocks of the Moon, which constitute most of the Lunar Highlands, were rich in the mineral Feldspar, consisting of Anorthosites (Feldspar-only rocks), Norites (Feldspar-pyroxene rocks) and Troctolites (Feldspar-olivine rocks). |
 | | The old Lunar crust was feldspar-rich because when the Moon differentiated internally, and its interior was molten (a Lunar Magma Ocean) feldspar which crystallized from this melt was buoyant and floated toward the surface, while denser, iron-rich minerals along with most of the olivine and pyroxene sank to the bottom. |
 | | These rocks form when fragment of shattered rock either are smashed together by the collision, sintered together by the heat of collision, or are cemented together by infiltrating impact melt. |
| www.cas.usf.edu /~jryan/moonrocks.html (1059 words) |
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