The substance that forms the lighter portions of the lunar surface, as opposed to lunabase.
The melting conditions in the lunarite were evidently different from those in the lunabase, on account of the difference in chemical composition; and from analogy with terrestrial conditions, the latter melted more easily.1948, Josiah Edward Spurr, Geology Applied to Selenology: Lunar catastrophic history, page 48:
On this reading of the situation, apart from the water of hydration, there will be very little chemical difference between lunarite and lunabase.1960, Valdemar Axel Firsoff, Strange world of the moon:
1 more example
Lunarite slopes at greater angles than lunabase, and the difference is due, it is suggested, to the lavas of the lunarite being relatively viscous.1965, Gilbert Fielder, Lunar geology, page 85:
Lunarite
noun
Etymology From Lunar (“pertaining to Luna”) + -ite.
Although his achievements were not numerous, he was able to hammer out a successful trade agreement with the Moon. The Lunarites were certainly pleased that their rich mining resources, needed by the Earth, were traded practically straight across for the air and water which they so desperately needed.1993, Linda Hall, The Josiah Files, Nashville, T.N.: Thomas Nelson Publishers, →ISBN, page 132: