Sulfide compositions of young Chang’e-5 basalts and implications for sulfur isotopes in lunar basalt sources

Sulfides are accessory phases in lunar rocks butare important forunderstanding lunar interior processes as well as impacts on the lunar surface.Whether or not the lunar mantle had achieved sulfide saturation during magma ocean evolution and displays homogeneous sulfur isotopes remains under debate. TheChang’e-5 (CE-5) mission returned young (2.0 Ga) basalts from a mare terrain in thenorthern Oceanus Procellarum.Here we study chemical and sulfur isotopic compositions (δ34SV-CDT) of sulfides from CE-5 basaltic fragments and combine them with δ34S of other young (3.1–3.0 Ga) lunar low-Ti basalt (NWA 10597 and NWA 4734) and gabbro meteorites (NWA 6950) to compare them with Apollo low-Ti and high-Ti mare basalts. The sulfides in basaltic fragments of CE-5 are troilites (FeS) with lowabundances ofNi, Co, and Cu(e.g., Ni < 0.04 wt.% and Ni/Co < 0.3). Textures and chemical compositions indicate that most troilites arelate-stage crystallization products fromthe highly evolvedCE-5 basalts. Several troilites occur in the matrices of impactite clasts and are intergrown with Fe–Ni metal(12–36 wt.% Ni, Ni/Co of 12–39). These troilites are distinct from the major population of troilites withnoticeably higher Ni abundances (mostly >0.2 wt.% with Ni/Co of 1–3) andreconcile with the addition of meteoritic materials into the impact melts.