The Apollo 15 regolith - Chemical modeling and mare/highland mixing
The chemical compositions of thirty-one A-15 soils from nine sampling stations were studied. Mixing models were calculated using five components: 'representative A-15 mare basalt', anorthosite, low-K Fra Mauro basalt, green glass, and medium-K KREEP (Laul and Papike, 1980). A linear-least-squares mixing model (Boynton et al., 1975) was used with sum check and chi-square tests of the fit of components to soil composition. The soils show significant compositional variability, in some instances over relatively small distances within a sampling station. The models indicate that green-glass abundance does not vary systematically with location and that a significant KREEP component is found in all Apennine Front soils. The models also show the soils from the rim of Hadley Rille to be the most mare-enriched, and soils from Station 2 to be the most highland-enriched. The regolith from Station 8-LM is anomalously high in KREEP component relative to the other mare soils, possibly because of ray material.