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The successful return of lunar soil samples from the northern Oceanus Procellarum by the Chang'E 5 (CE-5) mission has provided unprecedented ground-truth information for the previously unexplored region of the Moon. In particular, the particle size and mineral constituents of the CE-5 soil samples are of critical importance to interpret remote sensing data. With a Raman-based particle analysis system, we show that the particle size properties and mineral constituents of the CE-5 soil can be simultaneously determined with a small sample size (ca. 30 μg). The CE-5 sample scooped from the lunar surface has an overall small size between 0.4 μm and 73.9 μm (mean=3.5 μm), and mainly consists of pyroxene (39.4%), plagioclase (37.5%), olivine (9.8%), Fe-Ti oxides (1.9%), glass (8.3%) and other minor or trace phases. The results are consistent with previous analyses with larger sample sizes. In addition to minimum sample consumption, this method requires very little sample preparation, and can rapidly build a large database with each particle precisely traceable. Therefore, this novel technique is particularly suitable for the analysis of future returned soil samples from extraterrestrial bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lunar soil is a fine mixture of local rocks and exotic components. The bulk-rock chemical composition of the newly returned Chang'E-5 (CE-5) lunar soil was studied to understand its chemical homogeneity, exotic additions, and origin of landing site basalts. Concentrations of 48 major and trace elements, including many low-concentration volatile and siderophile elements, of two batches of the scooped CE-5 soil samples were simultaneously obtained by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) with minimal sample consumption. Their major and trace elemental compositions (except for Ni) are uniform at milligram levels (2–4 mg), matching measured compositions of basaltic glasses and estimates based on mineral modal abundances of basaltic fragments. This result indicates that the exotic highland and KREEP (K, rare earth elements, and P-rich) materials are very low (<5%) and the bulk chemical composition (except for Ni) of the CE-5 soil can be used to represent the underlying mare basalt. The elevated Ni concentrations reflect the addition of about 1 wt% meteoritic materials, which would not influence the other bulk composition except for some highly siderophile trace elements such as Ir. The CE-5 soil, which is overall the same as the underlying basalt in composition, displays low Mg# (34), high FeO (22.7 wt%), intermediate TiO 2 (5.12 wt%), and high Th (5.14 µg/g) concentrations. The composition is distinct from basalts and soils returned by the Apollo and Luna missions, however, the depletion of volatile or siderophile elements such as K, Rb, Mo, and W in their mantle sources is comparable. The incompatible lithophile trace element concentrations (e.g., Ba, Rb, Th, U, Nb, Ta, Zr, Hf, and REE) of the CE-5 basalts are moderately high and their pattern mimics high-K KREEP. The pattern of these trace elements with K, Th, U, Nb, and Ta anomalies of the CE-5 basalts cannot be explained by the partial melting and crystallization of olivine, pyroxene, and plagioclase. Thus, the mantle source of the CE-5 landing site mare basalt could have contained KREEP components, likely as trapped interstitial melts. To reconcile these observations with the initial unradiogenic Sr and radiogenic Nd isotopic compositions of the CE-5 basalts, clinopyroxene characterized by low Rb/Sr and high Sm/Nd ratios could be one of the main minerals in the KREEP-bearing mantle source. Consequently, we propose that the CE-5 landing site mare basalts very likely originated from partial melting of a shallow and clinopyroxene-rich (relative to olivine and orthopyroxene) upper mantle cumulate with a small fraction (about 1–1.5 %) of KREEP-like materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lunar regolith layer preserves abundant information on the internal properties of the Moon as well as the space-surface interactions. By gardening and overturning through time, the regolith layer is heterogenous and soils from different depths could record the complex evolution history of the Moon. Chang'e-5 (CE-5) successfully returned scooped samples and drilled samples from the northeastern Oceanus Procellarum of the Moon. In this study, one scooped sample (0–3 cm depth, S0) and two drilled samples (~10 cm depth, S10; and ~ 65 cm depth, S65) were employed to analyze their granulometry and mineralogy by micro Raman spectroscopy. The grain size increases with depth, and the median grain size of S0, S10, and S65 are Φ5.45 (30.2 μm), Φ4.47 (45.0 μm), and Φ3.37 (96.4 μm), respectively. Their mineral types and contents are pyroxene (33.4–40.5 vol%), plagioclase (30.4–33.8 vol%), olivine (9.0–13.1 vol%), glass (6.9–10.7 vol%), Fe Ti oxide (6.7–7.5 vol%), cristobalite (0.2–3.8 vol%), quartz (0.4–0.9 vol%), and phosphate (0.2–0.6 vol%). The size-dependent mineral modes reveal the relationship between grain size and mineralogy. The mineral modal abundances of 3 soil samples at different depths are roughly similar to that of CE-5 basalts. Raman peak position of quartz may record a peak shock pressure of 31.4 GPa. 5–9 vol% plagioclase amorphization reflects that at least 2–9% exogenous materials in CE-5 soil samples are ejected from craters with diameters larger than 3 km located beyond 50 km from the landing site. • Granulometry and mineralogy of CE-5 soil samples from three different depths were analyzed by micro-laser Raman spectroscopy. • The grain size distribution of CE-5 lunar soil exhibits an increasing trend with depth. • The mineral constituents of the soil samples are consistent throughout various depths. • Highly shocked materials were observed, including shocked quartz, quartz glass, and plagioclase glass. • Exogenous materials account for >2–9% of the CE-5 samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]