Other
Scientific paper
Sep 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dps....40.5701t&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #57.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.501
Other
Scientific paper
There are numerous questions about the details of lunar formation by a giant impact. The lunar composition depends mostly on the composition of the impacting planetary, the extent to which elements fractionated as the Moon formed, the extent to which volatiles were lost and the mechanism of loss, whether the Moon could accrete with compositional heterogeneities, and if the Moon accreted essentially totally molten. The chemical consequences are only beginning to be investigated (Pahlevan and Stevenson, 2007). The bulk composition of the Moon provides the framework for testing models that describe lunar origin. Lunar sample and remote sensing data lead to some generalizations about the lunar composition. Refractory elements appear to be enriched by about 50% compared to the bulk silicate Earth. This suggests that fractional condensation might have taken place as the Moon accreted. Oxidized iron (FeO) is higher than in the bulk Earth (about 13 wt% compared to 8 wt% in Earth). This might reflect the composition of the impactor. Moderately volatile elements (e.g., K) are depleted relative to the Earth: K/Th in the Moon is 540 when corrected for the factor of 1.5 enrichment in refractory elements compared to 2900 in the bulk Earth. Highly volatile elements are depleted in the order of their solar nebula condensation temperatures, but at a much smaller slope; in fact, within uncertainties they are uniformly depleted in the Moon. This volatile depletion pattern suggests that there was little loss during formation of the Moon, perhaps due to the significantly higher pressure compared to that in the solar nebula. (Alexander et al. (2008) suggest that high pressure prevents loss of Na and other volatiles during chondrule formation.) The low volatile concentrations in the Moon might reflect accretion from batches of materials at different temperatures, or inherited from the impactor.
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