For the first time, a team of NASA-funded researchers has measured water from the moon.
The researchers took the measurement in the form of tiny globules of
molten rock, which have turned to glass-like material trapped within
crystals.
Data from these newly-discovered lunar melt inclusions
indicate the water content of lunar magma is 100 times higher than
previous studies suggested.
The inclusions were found in lunar
sample 74220, the famous high-titanium "orange glass soil" of volcanic
origin collected during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The scientific
team used a state-of-the-art ion microprobe instrument to measure the
water content of the inclusions, which were formed during explosive
eruptions on the Moon approximately 3.7 billion years ago.
In
contrast to most volcanic deposits, the lunar melt inclusions are
encased in crystals that prevent the escape of water and other
volatiles during eruption.
"These samples provide the best
window we have on the amount of water in the interior of the Moon where
the orange glass came from," said science team member James Van Orman
of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
"The bottom
line is that in 2008, we said the primitive water content in the lunar
magmas should be similar to lavas coming from the Earth's depleted
upper mantle," said Alberto Saal of Brown University in Providence,.I.
"Now, we have proven that is indeed the case," added Saal.
The results have been published in the Science Express. (ANI)
