Geochronology of an Apollo 16 Clast Provides Evidence for a Basin-Forming Impact 4.3 Billion Years Ago

We examined lithic breccias from the Apollo sample collection in order to identify ferroan anorthosite samples suitable for geochronology, and better define the age relationships between rocks of the lunar highlands. Clast 3A is a previously unstudied noritic anorthosite from Apollo 16 lithic breccia 60016 with textural evidence of slow subsolidus recrystallization. We estimate a cooling rate of ~10 °C/Myr and calculate a pyroxene solvus temperature of 1,100-1,000 °C. Pyroxene exsolution lamellae (1-3 μm) indicate that the last stage of cooling was rapid at ~0.2 °C/year, typical of rates observed in thick ejecta blankets. We calculate concordant ages from the ¹⁴⁷Sm-¹⁴³Nd, ¹⁴⁶Sm-¹⁴²Nd, Rb-Sr, and Ar-Ar isotopic systems of 4,302 ± 28, 4,296 + 39/-53, 4,275 ± 38, and 4,311 ± 31 Ma, respectively, with a weighted average of 4,304 ± 12 Ma. The closure temperature of the Sm-Nd system is ~855 ± 14 °C, whereas the closure temperature of the Ar-Ar system is 275 ± 25 °C. Cooling from 855 to 275 °C at 10 °C/Myr should result in an age difference between the two isotopic systems of ~60 Myr. The concordant Sm-Nd, Rb-Sr, and Ar-Ar ages imply that they record the time the rock was excavated by a large impact from the midcrust. The ages clearly predate various late accretion scenarios in which an uptick in impacts at 3.8 Ga is preceded by a period of relative quiescence between 4.4 and ~4.1 Ga, and instead are consistent with decreasing accretion rates following the formation of the Moon.