Computer Science
Scientific paper
Jan 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002mbns.conf...61t&link_type=abstract
The Moon Beyond 2002: Next Steps in Lunar Science and Exploration, p. 61
Computer Science
Lunar Composition, Lunar Evolution, Solar System Evolution, Lunar Crust, Lunar Mantle, Remote Sensing, Iron Oxides, Aluminum Oxides, Chemical Composition, Lunar Seismographs
Scientific paper
The bulk composition of the Moon is important to test models for how the Moon formed and to understand how the terrestrial planets accreted. Models of the accretion of the terrestrial planets from a disk of lunar to Mars-sized embryos indicate widespread mixing of the embryos and their fragments, so that each terrestrial planet formed from material originally located throughout the inner solar system (0.5 to 2.5 AU). Such a process would erase any initial radial chemical variations in the compositions of the planetesimals and in the final assembled planets. However, Robinson and Taylor suggest that a distinct compositional gradient remains as shown by the FeO contents of the terrestrial planets: Mercury (3 wt%), Venus and Earth (8 wt%), and Mars (18 wt%). Drake and Righter discuss the unique composition of the Earth and also conclude that planets accreted mostly from narrow feeding zones. Knowing the composition of the Moon will help us understand the full extent of the Earth's accretion zone. We examine what we know about the composition of the Moon, with emphasis on elements that can be determined by remote sensing techniques (FeO, Al2O3, and Th).
Hawke Bernard Ray
Jeffrey Taylor G.
Spudis Paul D.
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