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Published byDomenic Claud Goodwin Modified over 9 years ago
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Hydrogen isotope ratios in lunar rocks indicate delivery of cometary water to the Moon Greenwood et al. 2011 (Go Wes!)
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Water on the Moon? Lunar water helps astronomers understand the Earth—Moon system Water has been found in lunar volcanic glasses and apatite… But where did this water come from?
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Important Terms SIMS: Secondary-ion mass spectrometry SCAPS: Stacked complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-type active pixel sensor VSMOW: Vienna standard mean ocean water D/H Ratio: ratio of Deuterium (“heavy H”) and Hydrogen Mare: low-lying lunar plain, filled with some lunar rocks; darker (basaltic) Highlands: higher plains; lighter (anorthositic)
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Points No indigenous water was discovered in Apollo program samples Bad: some samples from Apollo mission were terrestrially contaminated Good: ion microbe measurements have shown water in apatite from mare and highlands rocks in uncontaminated samples
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Apollo 11 High Ti-mare basalt 10044 -D/H of apatite grans in thin sections (10022,12 and 10044,644) similar although 10044,12 is from 40 years ago; 10044,644 was made weeks before SIMS analyses Apollo 12 Low Ti-mare basalts 12039 and 12040 -12039 is pigeonite basalt associated with mesostasis; highest water content measured -12040 is olivine basalt associated with prolonged cooling; very low water content Apollo 17 High-Ti mare basalt 75055 -D/H and water content similar to 10044 Apollo 14 High-Al mare basalt 14053 -D/H is very different from other lunar basalt—cannot be distinguished from Earth water Apollo 12 Breccia with granite 12013 -Black with lithology similar to KREEP Apollo 14 Crystalline Matrix Breccia 14305,94 -Very low δD value and consistent with terrestrial adsorbed water Apollo 14 14305,303 Pristine Alkali Anorthosite Clast c2 -Uncertain water content but has lower water content than standard terrestrial apatite minerals
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Figure 1: Backscatter electron image and SCAPS 1 H image of apatite grain 5 of 10044,12 Supplementary Table 5: δD and H 2 O content (wt.%) of lunar apatite
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Some Info. δD = {[(D/H) sample / (D/H) VSMOW ] − 1} × 1000 Earth’s water ranges from ~ −500‰ to ~ +100‰ with most in −200‰ to +50‰ range Mean δD value of 0‰ is ~ the same as ocean water Meteoric Water Line: linear progressive D depletion as H 2 O condenses near the poles “Latitudinal dependence of δD (and 18 O/ 16 O) values of water”
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Figure 2: δD (‰) versus H2O (wt.%) of lunar apatite measured in this study.
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Figure 3: δD plot of the solar system
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Conclusions Changes in D/H ratios of apatite-containing samples indicate the presence of water throughout the Moon’s magmatic history... Water on the Moon could have come from lunar mantle, solar wind protons, and comets Comets delivered a significant amount of water to the Earth—Moon system after Moon-forming impact
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