According to the conclusion of a new scientific study conducted by the Faculty of Earth Sciences and Planets at the University of California, Los Angeles (DEPSS), in the framework of previous research, the amount of water available on our natural satellite, the Moon, was overestimated. The new conclusion was built on the basis of research and analysis of the mineral apatite, which scientists found in samples of stones brought to Earth.
The new research team was led by Jeremy Beuys, Assistant Associate Professor at DEPSS. He and his colleagues were able to create a computer model that could show exactly how a mineral could crystallize from igneous rock shortly after our natural satellite was formed as a result of a young Earth’s collision with a Mars-sized space object, as one theory currently the most plausible.
Scientists believe that the knowledge and understanding of the exact circumstances in which this crystallization process took place is very important for accurately determining how much water can actually be contained on the moon now. According to the Moon Daily, researchers were interested in the fact that the crystals of apatite, which they studied, had an unusually high content of hydrogen.
This fact led many scientists to believe that crystals could only form in a rich aquatic environment. However, a new study suggests that things could have been a little different.
“Counting the volume of apatite rocks is indeed a widespread method for estimating water reserves in lunar rock, but this method cannot be canonical,” says Boyce in the comments on his research, the results of which were published in one of the latest issues of the scientific journal Science.
"Our new results suggest that there is not so much water in the lunar igneous rock, as apatite would seem to indicate this," the scientist continues.
The team from DEPSS notes: for decades, geologists believed that the moon was almost completely devoid of water, while in 2010 it was not found reserves of apatite with a rich concentration of hydrogen. Subsequent analyzes of the mineral hinted to scientists that in the past this rock could be rich in water concentration, however, researchers could not explain the very nature of this mineral.
Boyes explains that apatite can contain a supply of hydrogen from water in its structure only if the elements of fluorine and chlorine that are necessary for this process become unavailable during the process of its crystallization.
“The ancient apatites are so rich in fluorine elements that it leads us to the opinion that they received the entire supply of fluorine and chlorine directly from the igneous rock,” says the scientist.
“Those apatites that were formed later show the absence of both fluorine and chlorine, but show a high content of hydrogen,” adds Boyce.
Such a change in the structure of minerals occurs over a very long period of time, so the volume of hydrogen contained in these minerals cannot be used as an accurate measure for determining the volume of water on the moon.
Most lunar samples do not really contain signs of water and show a clear lack of light elements. Nevertheless, the discovery of apatite with a rich supply of hydrogen has become a real mystery to scientists. Perhaps in the early stages of the formation of our natural satellite, water and some other elements were indeed on it, but this reserve was rather much smaller than what apatite itself may indicate.
“We for 40 years believed that the moon was completely dry. Now we have some evidence in favor of the fact that the old model of the “dry moon” is not quite true. Nevertheless, we must carefully consider the research questions of each individual piece of lunar rock before drawing conclusions that it is as rich in water as the one we have on Earth, ”concluded Beuys.
The article is based on materials .
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