Nominally hydrous magmatism on the Moon.

ABSTRACT: For the past 40 years, the Moon has been described as nearly devoid of indigenous water; however, evidence for water both on the lunar surface and within the lunar interior have recently emerged, calling into question this long-standing lunar dogma. In the present study, hydroxyl (as well as fluoride and chloride) was analyzed by secondary ion mass spectrometry in apatite [Ca(5)(PO(4))(3)(F,Cl,OH)] from three different lunar samples in order to obtain quantitative constraints on the abundance of water in the lunar interior. This work confirms that hundreds to thousands of ppm water (of the structural form hydroxyl) is present in apatite from the Moon. Moreover, two of the studied samples likely had water preserved from magmatic processes, which would qualify the water as being indigenous t

SUBMITTER: McCubbin FM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2895071 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature