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Volatile elements locked in moon rock [ hydrogen, chlorine, sulfur ]
Highlights in Chemical Science ^
| July 21, 2010
| James Urquhart
Posted on 10/25/2010 6:31:15 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Samples of a mineral present on the Moon and on Earth have been found to contain almost the same concentrations of hydrogen, chlorine and sulfur, adding weight to questions over how the Moon formed and evolved. The interior of the Moon was generally believed to be depleted of volatile elements as they were thought to have escaped into space during the Moon's formation... Jeremy Boyce at the California Institute of Technology and colleagues at other US institutions... analysing a mineral called apatite... ubiquitous in trace amounts in lunar rocks... Using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), the researchers measured concentrations of hydrogen, chlorine and sulfur... and discovered that the concentrations of these elements are indistinguishable from apatite found in terrestrial igneous rocks.
'This was unexpected because Earth is wet, and rich in chlorine and sulfur, so we'd expect the apatites from the Earth and Moon to be very different,' says Boyce. 'The results tell us that conditions existed in lunar rocks that could create apatite crystals that are very similar to those apatite crystals that grew from "wet" magmas on Earth,' continues Boyce. 'So we know the Moon has at least a little bit of water and these other volatile elements. But how much exactly is a matter of some debate.'
While the new study corroborates McCubbin's findings in terms of elevated abundances of H and Cl in lunar apatite, he says that the sulfur content is a new contribution. 'The presence of sulfur in the apatite could help scientists understand how the abundances of sulfur varied in different types of lunar magmas and ultimately whether or not sulfur played a significant role in driving lunar volcanism,' he explains.
(Excerpt) Read more at rsc.org ...
TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: catastrophism; chlorine; hydrogen; sulfur
- NASA Mars Rover's First Soil Analysis Yields Surprises -- One unexpected finding was the Moessbauer spectrometer's detection of a mineral called olivine, which does not survive weathering well. This spectrometer identifies different types of iron-containing minerals; scientists believe many of the minerals on Mars contain iron... The lack of weathering suggested by the presence of olivine might be evidence that the soil particles are finely ground volcanic material, Squyres said. Another possible explanation is that the soil layer where the measurements were taken is extremely thin, and the olivine is actually in a rock under the soil... an alpha particle X-ray spectrometer... "measures X-ray radiation emitted by Mars samples, and from this data we can derive the elemental composition of martian soils and rocks," said Dr. Johannes Brueckner, rover science team member... The instrument found the most prevalent elements in the soil patch were silicon and iron. It also found significant levels of chlorine and sulfur, characteristic of soils at previous martian landing sites but unlike soil composition on Earth.
1
posted on
10/25/2010 6:31:17 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
To: 75thOVI; aimhigh; Alice in Wonderland; AndrewC; aragorn; aristotleman; Avoiding_Sulla; BBell; ...
2
posted on
10/25/2010 6:31:53 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
To: SunkenCiv
One theory is the moon came from the Pacific Ocean.
That or a cheese factory explosion.
3
posted on
10/25/2010 6:52:08 PM PDT
by
bgill
(K Parliament- how could a young man born in Kenya who is not even a native American become the POTUS)
To: SunkenCiv
Just wait till they find the pyramids beneath the moon dust. Hoo boy.
4
posted on
10/25/2010 7:02:25 PM PDT
by
decimon
olivine moon site:freerepublic.com
Google
5
posted on
10/25/2010 7:23:49 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
To: bgill
I swiss everyone would be gouda.
6
posted on
10/25/2010 7:25:42 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
To: decimon
7
posted on
10/25/2010 7:46:29 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
To: SunkenCiv
I swiss everyone would be gouda.
I dunno...looks like there are holes in the [ahem]
theory...
8
posted on
10/25/2010 10:22:51 PM PDT
by
BlueDragon
(....other than that we aint nothin' just good 'ol boys...)
To: BlueDragon
At least you didn’t say, “I colby s.” ;’)
9
posted on
10/26/2010 8:27:15 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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