Can an Early-Formed Moon Avoid Siderophile Contamination by Subsequent Impacts?

Details Can an Early-Formed Moon Avoid Siderophile Contamination by Subsequent Impacts? Can an Early-Formed Moon Avoid Siderophile Contamination by Subsequent Impacts?

Jan 1998

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998lpico.957...44s&link_type=abstract

Origin of the Earth and Moon, Proceedings of the Conference held 1-3 December, 1998 in Monterey, California. LPI Contribution N

Physics

Angular Momentum, Earth-Moon System, Moon, Lunar Evolution, Selenology, Collisions, Orbit Calculation, Many Body Problem, Siderites, Orbital Mechanics

Scientific paper

Both dynamical and chemical constraints must be applied to models of the formation of the Earth-Moon system. A primary dynamical constraint is that the angular momentum of the Earth-Moon system has remained nearly constant since its formation. A primary chemical constraint is that the surface of the Moon is highly depleted in siderophile elements. Recent N-body simulations of the accretion of the Moon from an impact-generated disk have shown that the accretion is very inefficient, so that about half of the initial disk mass is pushed back onto Earth. Simulations of a giant impact on Earth find that in order to insert two lunar masses of material into Earth orbit requires an impact with nearly twice the angular momentum of the Earth-Moon system. To avoid this angular momentum excess, Cameron has proposed that the giant impact occurred when the Earth had only about two-thirds of its final mass. Recent SPH simulations of an early impact on a smaller protoEarth yield two-lunar-mass disks with the correct angular momentum of the Earth-Moon system [2]. But can such an early-formed Moon avoid significant siderophile contamination by impacts during the subsequent accretion of the remaining one-third of the Earth?

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