Jean A. Minkin | USGS Science

USGS1978

Allocation of subsamples of Apollo 17 lunar rocks from the boulder at station 7, for study by the International Consortium

The International Consortium was organized, under the leadership of E. C. T. Chao, to conduct a systematic interdisciplinary study of four lunar rock samples (77135, 77115, 77075 and 77215) collected by the Apollo 17 astronauts as representative of the four lithologies they recognized in the boulder at station 7. Tables 1 to 4 document the allocation of subsamples for consortium studies, and table 5 lists the members of the International Consortium.

Open-File Report↗

USGS1975

The Néel transition and magnetic properties of terrestrial, synthetic, and lunar ilmenites

The magnetic susceptibility of a terrestrial, synthetic and lunar ilmenite specimen has been measured from 4 to 300 K. All specimens had a single Néel temperature transition which ranged from 56 to 57.7 K. In one case the powdered specimen was partially aligned in the magnetic field prior to the susceptibility measurements and the Néel transition was observed to shift to 60 K indicating magnetic anisotropy. A study of several magnetic parameters calculated from the experimental data showed gross impurities in the terrestrial specimen, single-domain to multi-domain metallic iron in the synthetic specimen, and a small amount of superparamagnetic metallic iron in the lunar sample. No multidomain iron was observed in the lunar ilmenite. The results of electron spin resonance measurements were also in general agreement with these findings. Because of the absence of Fe 3+ compared to most terrestrial samples it is suggested that the anisotropic magnetic parameters be determined on lunar ilmenite when a large enough single crystal becomes available.

Earth and Planetary Science Letters↗