KREEP-rich breccia in Chang'E-5 regolith and its implications.

Lunar breccias provide crucial insights into the lithological diversity, shock processing and evolution of the lunar crust. Here, we report a unique regolith breccia (CE5C0000YJYX070GP, hereafter CE5C) returned from the Chang'E-5 (CE-5) mission. CE5C is one of the largest CE-5 breccias with a wide variety of lithologies, dominated by basaltic and mineral fragments as well as impact-melted clasts (including mid-Ti glasses, high-Al glasses, and crystal-bearing impact melt clasts). A comprehensive study of petrology and mineralogy on several representative clasts was conducted by integrating Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Tescan Integrated Mineral Analysis (TIMA), Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA) and Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) techniques. Evidence is sufficient that CE5C is a mixed mare-highland regolith breccia, with a high percentage of KREEPy material (>20 vol.%), which has not been previously reported in other CE-5 samples. The mid-Ti impact glasses are characterized by high FeO (24.0 wt.%) and intermediate TiO2 (5.5 wt.%) contents, while the high-Al impact glasses have a chemical composition compatible with KREEP. Integrated with the regional geological context of the CE-5 landing site, we propose that CE5C is likely derived from a mixed region between the P58/Em4 mare unit and its contiguous eastern highlands. Despite the difficulty in assessing the representativeness of CE5C, the substantial presence of KREEPy material may provide valuable clues to the provenance of exotic ejecta, including the identification of unrecognized source craters situated in the eastern periphery of the sampling unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]