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1.
Comminution, agglutination, and replenishment processes in a lunar soil are modeled by a system of time dependent, linear differential equations. In the model a soil is subdivided into coarse particle, fine particle, and agglutinate fractions. The relative mass abundance of each component in a mature soil is found to be proportional to rates for the reworking processes. Evolution of the grain size distribution from a fresh ejecta blanket to a mature soil is described quantitatively in terms of the changing proportions of the three soil constituents. If size data is available for an immature soil and a mature soil of the same system, rates for the various processes can be calculated under certain simplifying assumptions.  相似文献   

2.
Nanophase iron (np-Fe0) particles produced by space weathering have been widely observed in lunar soil. Current research suggests that np-Fe0 could have important effects on the chemical, optical and magnetic properties of the lunar soil. To investigate the relationship between np-Fe0 and these properties of lunar soil, simulation of the production process of np-Fe0 by space weathering is necessary because of the scarcity of lunar samples for research purposes. New methods using microwave heating and magnetron sputtering techniques to simulate np-Fe0 production both in the glass phase and on the grain surfaces, respectively, are investigated in this study. Both the formation and occurrence of np-Fe0 are taken into account in the experiment. The X-ray Diffraction (XRD) spectra show that metallic iron has formed in the glass phase produced by microwave heating of ilmenite. Using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), the size of np-Fe0 particles produced in a microwave heating experiment, which is held for 8 min at 1300 °C, is determined to be about 100–500 nm. Compared to the glass of lunar sample 10084, the major composition of the glass matrix is formed by microwave heating compares favorably. In magnetron sputtering experiment the size of np-Fe0 particles is about 20–30 nm, and appears on the grain surfaces. The characteristics of np-Fe0 produced in the simulations are consistent with those of lunar samples documented in the literature.  相似文献   

3.
Abstract— The lunar soil characterization consortium, a group of lunar‐sample and remote‐sensing scientists, has undertaken the extensive task of characterization of the finest fractions of lunar soils, with respect to their mineralogical and chemical makeup. These compositional data form the basis for integration and modeling with the reflectance spectra of these same soil fractions. This endeavor is aimed at deciphering the effects of space weathering of soils on airless bodies with quantification of the links between remotely sensed reflectance spectra and composition. A beneficial byproduct is an understanding of the complexities involved in the formation of lunar soil. Several significant findings have been documented in the study of the <45 μm size fractions of selected Apollo 17 mare soils. As grain size decreases, the abundance of agglutinitic glass increases, as does the plagioclase, whereas the other minerals decrease. The composition of the agglutinitic glass is relatively constant for all size fractions, being more feldspathic than any of the bulk compositions; notably, TiO2 is substantially depleted in the agglutinitic glass. However, as grain size decreases, the bulk composition of each size fraction continuously changes, becoming more Al‐rich and Fe‐poor, and approaches the composition of the agglutinitic glasses. Between the smallest grain sizes (10–20 and < 10 μm), the IS/FeO values (amount of total iron present as nanophase Fe0) increase by greater than 100% (>2x), whereas the abundance of agglutinitic glass increases by only 10–15%. This is evidence for a large contribution from surface‐correlated nanophase Fe0 to the IS/FeO values, particularly in the <10 μm size fraction. The surface nanophase Fe0 is present largely as vapor‐deposited patinas on the surfaces of almost every particle of the mature soils, and to a lesser degree for the immature soils (Keller et al., 1999a). It is reasoned that the vapor‐deposited patinas may have far greater effects upon reflectance spectra of mare soils than the agglutinitic Fe0.  相似文献   

4.
We find the lunar darkening process could be due neither to simple addition of impact-melted glass nor to addition of devitrified glass to crushed lunar rock. There is evidence that lunar soil grains have thin, very light-absorbing coatings that mask absorption bands, seen in the reflection spectra of freshly crushed lunar rock, in the same manner as they are masked in the spectra of lunar soils. We believe the processes that produce these coatings are (1) deposition of atoms sputtered from lunar soil grains by solar wind particles and (2) deposition of vapor species vaporized from lunar soil grains by micrometeorite impacts. Coatings produced in laboratory simulations of these processes owe their strong light-absorbing properties in large part to the presence of abundant metallic Fe grains smaller than 100 Å in diameter. Another process, which depends on implantation of solar wind protons in lunar soil grains and their later mobilization during micrometeorite impacts to produce metallic Fe in the impact glass, also seems reasonable but has not yet been demonstrated experimentally. As a result of impact vaporization the Moon would preferentially lose minor amounts of light elements, principally monatomic oxygen, and this would result in oxygen depletion in the vapor condensate. This type of fraction would be more extreme on airless bodies with lower escape velocities. Sputtering occurs at higher effective temperatures and this would cause loss of all common rock-forming elements in approximately equal amounts. There would be some bias in this process toward retention of very heavy trace elements— a characteristic that has been observed in the lunar soil. This bias would be less important for smaller airless bodies. We describe an apparent new type of fractionation that occurs during deposition of sputtered atoms. This fractionation favors retention of higher mass atoms over lower mass atoms, and appears to be a linear function of mass. This may explain observed isotopic fractionations in lunar soil, in which the heavier isotope always appears to be enriched relative to the lighter one. This “first bounce fractionation” process should operate on all airless bodies. Na and K apparently do not conform to this fractionation process and have a much greater tendency to escape. This may help explain the presence of high Na concentrations around Io.  相似文献   

5.
A study of lunar impact crater size-distributions   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  
Discrepancies in published crater frequency data prompted this study of lunar crater distributions. Effects modifying production size distributions of impact craters such as surface lava flows, blanketing by ejecta, superposition, infilling, and abrasion of craters, mass wasting, and the contribution of secondary and volcanic craters are discussed. The resulting criteria have been applied in the determination of the size distributions of unmodified impact crater populations in selected lunar regions of different ages. The measured cumulative crater frequencies are used to obtain a general calibration size distribution curve by a normalization procedure. It is found that the lunar impact crater size distribution is largely constant in the size range 0.3 km ?D ? 20 km for regions with formation ages between ≈ 3 × 109 yr and ? 4 × 109 yr. A polynomial of 4th degree, valid in the size range 0.8 km ?D ? 20 km, and a polynomial of 7th degree, valid in the size range 0.3 km ?D ? ? 20 km, have been approximated to the logarithm of the cumulative crater frequencyN as a function of the logarithm of crater diameterD. The resulting relationship can be expressed asN ～D α(D) where α is a function depending onD. This relationship allows the comparison of crater frequencies in different size ranges. Exponential relationships with constant α, commonly used in the literature, are shown to inadequately approximate the lunar impact crater size distribution. Deviations of measured size distributions from the calibration distribution are strongly suggestive of the existence of processes having modified the primary impact crater population.  相似文献   

6.
It is suspected that the lunar exosphere has a dusty component dispersed above the surface by various physical mechanisms. Most of the evidence for this phenomenon comes from observations of “lunar horizon glow” (LHG), which is thought to be produced by the scattering of sunlight by this exospheric dust. The characterization of exospheric dust populations at the Moon is key to furthering our understanding of fundamental surface processes, as well as a necessary requirement for the planning of future robotic and human exploration.We present a model to simulate the scattering of sunlight by complex lunar dust grains (i.e. grains that are non-spherical and can be inhomogeneous in composition) to be used in the interpretation of remote sensing data from current and future lunar missions. We numerically model lunar dust grains with several different morphologies and compositions and compute their individual scattering signatures using the Discrete Dipole Approximation (DDA). These scattering properties are then used in a radiative transfer code to simulate the light scattering due to a dust size distribution, as would likely be observed in the lunar exosphere at high altitudes 10's of km. We demonstrate the usefulness and relevance of our model by examining mode: irregular grains, aggregate of spherical monomers and spherical grains with nano-phase iron inclusions. We subsequently simulate the scattering by two grain size distributions (0.1 and radius), and show the results normalized per-grain. A similar methodology can also be applied to the analysis of the LHG observations, which are believed to be produced by scattering from larger dust grains within about a meter of the surface.As expected, significant differences in scattering properties are shown between the analyses employing the widely used Mie theory and our more realistic grain geometries. These differences include large variations in intensity as well as a positive polarization of scattered sunlight caused by non-spherical grains. Positive polarization occurs even when the grain size is small compared to the wavelength of incident sunlight, thus confirming that the interpretation of LHG based on Mie theory could lead to large errors in estimating the distribution and abundances of exospheric dust.  相似文献   

7.
Abstract— Impact-induced comminution of planetary surfaces is pervasive throughout the solar system and occurs on submillimeter to global scales, resulting in comminution products that range from fine-grained surface soils, to massive, polymict ejecta deposits, to collisionally fragmented objects. Within this wide range of comminution products, we define regoliths in a narrow sense as materials that were processed by repetitive impacts to dimensional scales comparable to or smaller than that of component minerals of the progenitor rock(s). In this paper, we summarize a wide variety of impact experiments and other observations that were primarily intended to understand the evolution of regoliths on lunar basalt flows, and we discuss some of their implications for asteroidal surfaces. Cratering experiments in both rock and noncohesive materials, combined with photogeologic observations of the lunar surface, demonstrate that craters <500 m in diameter contribute most to the excavation of local bedrock for subsequent processing by micrometeorites. The overall excavation rate and, thus, growth rate of the debris layer decreases with time, because the increasingly thicker fragmental layer will prevent progressively larger projectiles from reaching bedrock. Typical growth rates for a 5 m thick lunar soil layer are initially (～≥3 Ga ago) a few mm/Ma and slowed to <1 mm/Ma at present. The coarse-grained crater ejecta are efficiently comminuted by collisional fragmentation processes, and the mean residence time of a 1 kg rock is typically 10 Ma. The actual comminution of either lithic or monomineralic detritus is highly mineral specific, with feldspar and mesostasis comminuting preferentially over pyroxene and olivine, thus resulting in mechanically fractionated fines, especially at grain sizes <20 μm. Such fractionated fines also participate preferentially in the shock melting of lunar soils, thus giving rise to “agglutinate” melts. As a consequence, agglutinate melts are systematically enriched in feldspar components relative to the bulk composition of their respective host soil(s). Compositionally homogeneous, impact derived glass beads in lunar soils seem to result from micrometeorite impacts on rock surfaces, reflecting lithic regolith components and associated mineral mixtures. Cumulatively, experimental and observational evidence from lunar mare soils suggests that regoliths derive substantially from the comminution of local bedrock; the addition of foreign, exotic components is not necessary to explain the modal and chemical compositions of diverse grain size fractions from typical lunar soils. Regoliths on asteroids are qualitatively different from those of the Moon. The modest impact velocities in the asteroid belt, some 5 km s?1, are barely sufficient to produce impact melts. Also, substantially more crater mass is being displaced on low-gravity asteroids compared to the Moon; collisional processing of surface boulders should therefore be more prominent in producing comminuted asteroid surfaces. These processes combine into asteroidal surface deposits that have suffered modest levels of shock metamorphism compared to the Moon. Impact melting does not seem to be a significant process under these conditions. However, the role of cometary particles encountering asteroid surfaces at presumably higher velocities has not been addressed in the past. Unfortunately, the asteroidal surface processes that seemingly modify the spectral properties of ordinary chondrites to match telescopically obtained spectra of S-type asteroids remain poorly understood at present, despite the extensive experimental and theoretical insights summarized in this report and our fairly mature understanding of lunar surface processes and regolith evolution.  相似文献   

8.
The development, with time, of microcrater and accretionary particle distributions is investigated for lunar rocks subjected to meteoroid and solar wind bombardment. Experimental observations of the impact crater size distributions and accretionary particle populations on specially selected areas of Apollo Lunar Samples are used to derive incident fluxes for the theory of topological development described in Paper I. (ibid.). Observations show that a delineation and quantitative characterisation of erosion by impact, solar wind sputter and accretionary build-up leads to features typical of lunar surface rocks. The dominance of specific erosion mechanisms is shown to be size dependent. Monte Carlo simulations of these processes are developed to mimic the surface development of populations under arbitrary exposure conditions. Surface dust and splash (accreta) build-up significantly affects observed parameters; it may be used also as a sample surface exposure age indicator. Sputter by the solar wind is shown to modify both accreta and microcrater populations up to dimensions of one micron.  相似文献   

9.
It is shown that endogenic lava flow processes can be identified by their characteristic effects on lunar crater size distributions without necessarily being able to recognise individual flows on the photographs studied. The thickness of lava flows or a series of flows can be estimated from these crater size distribution characteristics. The lava flow histories of the Apollo landing sites 11, 12 and 15 are discussed in detail. The thicknesses of the most recent (3–3.4 × 109 years ago) flows there and of the youngest flows in an area in south-west Mare Imbrium (3 × 109 years) are found to range between 30 and 60 m. The subsequent flow episodes at the landing sites showing up in the crater size distributions can be related to differences in the radiometric ages of the respective lunar rocks.  相似文献   

10.
Lunar samples provide ground-truth for all planetary exploration. Lunar soils, especially their <1 mm fraction, constitute the only primary standards for remotely sensing the composition of small airless planetary bodies. Therefore, maintaining the integrity, especially of the <1 mm fraction, takes on a much larger, big picture responsibility. A possibility has been suggested that lunar soils may disintegrate (to smaller grain sizes) if exposed to the Earth's moist atmosphere, thus losing some of their intrinsic value to science. We have tested that possibility by multiple, independent reanalyses with three techniques (wet-sieving in water and in alcohol, and laser diffractometry) using a fresh allocation of Apollo 17 “orange soil,” 74220. Our results are very similar to each other despite repeated soaking–drying in water, and also to those originally determined in the 1970s. We have also used a laser diffractometry technique to reanalyze the grain sizes of ~50 mg splits of eight soils that were initially analyzed three to four decades ago. The results are randomly different from previous measurements, which we attribute to nonrepresentative subsampling of very small amounts from previous allocations; ~50 mg is too small for obtaining representative aliquots. The results of grain-size analyses presented and discussed in this study indicate that the integrity of the lunar soil 74220, and indeed, all lunar soils, has not been physically compromised in the last four decades.  相似文献   

11.
《Icarus》1987,72(3):492-506
The effects of particle size and mineral proportions on the spectral characteristics of plagioclase and pyroxene mixtures are investigated. Size separates (<25 μm, 25–45 μm, 45–75 μm, 75–125 μm, 125–250 μm, and 250–500 μm) have been prepared for the following labradorite/enstatite compositional mixtures: 100/0%, 95/5%, 85/15%, 50/50%, and 0/100%. Spectrally, the labradorite and enstatite samples are representative of the plagioclase feldspars and the orthopyroxenes: the labradorite exhibits a weak, broadband centered near 1.25 μm and the enstatite exhibits two well-defined bands centered near 0.9 and 1.9 μm. From analysis of the plagioclase bands of the mixtures, it is found that (1) the amount of plagioclase necessary for the plagioclase band to be observed as a discrete absorption band is dependent on particle size and (2) plagioclase can be detected by flattening of the pyroxene reflectance “peak” between the 0.9- and 1.9-μm absorption bands if significant amounts of plagioclase are present. Analogs for immature and mature lunar highland soils have been created to examine the combined effects of particle size and mineral proportions on spectra of plagioclase and pyroxene mixtures. bidirectional reflectance spectra of these soil analogs are used to examine the detectability of plagioclase in soil-like particle size distributions. Plagioclase in significant amounts is detected by the flattening of the pyroxene reflectance “peak” between the 0.9- and 1.9-μm absorption bands, and the plagioclase absorption band itself is observed with 85% plagioclase present. The soil analogs reveal that particle size accounts for only a minor spectral difference between immature and mature lunar highland soils. From comparisons with spectra of returned lunar samples, agglutinates are found to dominate the spectral variations associated with soil maturity. Spectra of the immature soil analogs can be used to estimate the minimum pyroxene abundance for immature regions observed remotely.  相似文献   

12.
Abstract— An important and poorly understood group of rocks found in the ancient lunar highlands is called “feldspathic granulitic impactites.” Rocks of the granulite suite occur at most of the Apollo highlands sites as hand samples, rake samples, clasts in breccias, and soil fragments. Most lunar granulites contain 70–80% modal plagioclase, but they can range from anorthosite to troctolite and norite. Previous studies have led to different interpretations for the thermal history of these rocks, including formation as igneous plutons, long-duration metamorphism at high temperatures, and short-duration metamorphism at low temperatures. This paper reports on a study of 24 polished thin sections of lunar granulites from the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 missions. We identify three different textural types of granulitic breccias: poikilitic, granoblastic, and poikilitic-granoblastic breccias. These breccias have similar equilibration temperatures (1100 ± 50 °C), as well as common compositions. Crystal size distributions in two granoblastic breccias reveal that Ostwald ripening took place during metamorphism. Solid-state grain growth and diffusion calculations indicate relatively rapid cooling during metamorphism (0.5 to 50 °C/year), and thermal modeling shows that they cooled at relatively shallow depths (<200 m). In contrast, we conclude that the poikilitic rocks formed by impact melting, whereas the poikilitic-granoblastic rocks were metamorphosed and may have partially melted. These results indicate formation of lunar granulites in relatively small craters (30–90 km in diameter), physically associated with the impact-melt breccia pile, and possibly from fine-grained fragmental precursor lithologies.  相似文献   

13.
We developed kinetic theory for the charging processes of small dust grains near the lunar surface due to interaction with the anisotropic solar wind plasma. Once charged, these dust grains, which are exposed to the electric field in the sheath region near the lunar surface, could loft and distribute around such heights off the surface where they reach equilibrium with the local gravitational force. Analytical solutions were derived for the charging time, grain floating potential, and grain charge, characterizing the charging processes of small dust grains in a two-component and in a multi-component solar wind plasma, and further highlighting the unique features presented by the high streaming plasma velocity. We have also formulated a novel kinetic theory of sheath formation around an absorbing planar surface immersed in the anisotropic solar wind plasma in the case of a negligible photoelectric effect and presented solutions for the sheath structure. In this study we combined the results from these analyses and provided estimates for the size distribution function of dust that is expected to be lofted in regions dominated by the solar wind plasma, such as near the terminator and in nearby shadowed craters. Corresponding to the two dominant streaming velocity peaks of 300 and 800 km/s, mean dust diameters of 500 and 350 nm, respectively, are expected to be found at equilibrium at heights of relevance to exploration operations, e.g., around 1.5 m height off the lunar surface. In shadowed craters near the terminator region, where isotropic plasma should be dominating, we estimate mean lofted dust diameter of 800 nm around the same 1.5 m height off the lunar surface. The generally applicable solutions could be used to readily calculate the expected lofted size distribution near the lunar surface as a function of plasma parameters, dust grain composition, and other parameters of interest.  相似文献   

14.
Z.C. Ling  Alian Wang 《Icarus》2011,211(1):101-113
Laser Raman spectroscopy is used to investigate four lunar soils, focusing on mineralogy of grains of <45 μm size. Apollo samples 14163, 15271, 67511, and 71501 were selected as endmembers to study, based on their soil chemistry, maturity, and sample locations. Typical Raman spectral features for major and minor lunar minerals are discussed on the basis of major vibrational modes. We used the Raman peak shift to calculate Mg/(Mg + Fe + Ca) and Ca/(Mg + Fe + Ca) for pyroxene and Mg/(Mg + Fe) for olivine, and thus obtained the compositional distributions of these two minerals in each of the four lunar soils. Classification of feldspar grains was made based on recognition of their Raman patterns. A Raman point-counting procedure was applied to derive mineral modes of the soils, and these are found to be consistent with published modal analysis of these soils. The compositional distributions of pyroxene and olivine grains in each soil sample, as well as the mineral modes, reflect characteristics of the main source materials for these soils. Raman patterns and peak positions also reflect shock effects on plagioclase and quartz, found in 14163.  相似文献   

15.
Apollo 12 Lunar Module exhaust plume impingement on Lunar Surveyor III   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  
Understanding plume impingement by retrorockets on the surface of the Moon is paramount for safe lunar outpost design in NASA’s planned return to the Moon for the Constellation Program. Visual inspection, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and surface scanned topology have been used to investigate the damage to the Lunar Surveyor III spacecraft that was caused by the Apollo 12 Lunar Module’s close proximity landing. Two parts of the Surveyor III craft returned by the Apollo 12 astronauts, Coupons 2050 and 2051, which faced the Apollo 12 landing site, show that a fine layer of lunar regolith coated the materials and was subsequently removed by the Apollo 12 Lunar Module landing rocket. The coupons were also pitted by the impact of larger soil particles with an average of 103 pits/cm2. The average entry size of the pits was 83.7 μm (major diameter) × 74.5 μm (minor diameter) and the average estimated penetration depth was 88.4 μm. Pitting in the surface of the coupons correlates to removal of lunar fines and is likely a signature of lunar material imparting localized momentum/energy sufficient to cause cracking of the paint. Comparison with the lunar soil particle size distribution and the optical density of blowing soil during lunar landings indicates that the Surveyor III spacecraft was not exposed to the direct spray of the landing Lunar Module, but instead experienced only the fringes of the spray of soil. Had Surveyor III been exposed to the direct spray, the damage would have been orders of magnitude higher.  相似文献   

16.
J. Warell  D.T. Blewett 《Icarus》2004,168(2):257-276
We present new optical (0.4-0.65 μm) spectra of Mercury and lunar pure anorthosite locations, obtained quasi-simultaneously with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) in 2002. A comparative study is performed with the model of Lucey et al. (2000, J. Geophys. Res. 105, 20297-20305, and references therein) between iron-poor, mature, pure anorthosite (>90% plagioclase feldspar) Clementine spectra from the lunar farside and a combined 0.4-1.0 μm mercurian spectrum, obtained with the NOT, calculated for standard photometric geometry. Mercury is located at more extreme locations in the Lucey ratio-reflectance diagrams than any known lunar soil, specifically with respect to the extremely iron-poor mature anorthosites. Though quantitative prediction of FeO and TiO2 abundances cannot be made without a more generally applicable model, we find qualitatively that the abundances of both these oxides must be near zero for Mercury. We utilize the theory of Hapke (2002, Icarus 157, 523-534, and references therein), with realistic photometric parameters, to model laboratory spectra of matured mineral powders and lunar soils, and remotely sensed spectra of lunar anorthosites and Mercury. An important difference between fabricated and natural powders is the high value for the internal scattering parameter necessary to interpret the spectra for the former, and the requirement of rough and non-isotropically scattering surfaces in the modelling of the latter. The mature lunar anorthosite spectra were well modelled with binary mixtures of calcic feldspars and olivines, grain sizes of 25-30 μm and a concentration of submicroscopic metallic iron (SMFe) of 0.12-0.15% in grain coatings. The mercurian spectrum is not possible to interpret from terrestrial mineral powder spectra without introducing an average particle scattering function for the bulk soil that increases in backscattering efficiency with wavelength. The observed spectrum is somewhat better predicted with binary mixture models of feldspars and pyroxenes, than with single-component regoliths consisting of either albite or diopside. Correct spectral reflectance values were predicted with a concentration of 0.1 wt% SMFe in coatings of 15-30 μm sized grains. Since reasonable cosmogonical formation scenarios for Mercury, or meteoritic infall, predict iron concentrations at least this high, we draw the conclusion that the average grain size of Mercury is about a factor of two smaller than for average returned lunar soil samples. The 0.6-2.5 μm spectrum of McCord and Clark (1979, J. Geophys. Res. 178, 745-747) is used to further limit the possible range of mineralogical composition of Mercury. It is found that an intimately mixed and matured 3:1 labradorite-to-enstatite regolith composition best matches both the optical and near-infrared spectra, yielding an abundance of ∼1.2 wt% FeO and ∼0 wt% TiO2.  相似文献   

17.
By applying our understanding of lunar space weathering processes, we can predict how space weathering will effect the soil properties on Mercury. In particular, the extreme temperature range on Mercury may result in latitudinal variations in the size distribution of npFe0, and therefore the spectral properties of the soil.  相似文献   

18.
Abstract— Evidence in favor of the model fusion of the finest fraction (F3) for the origin of lunar agglutinitic glass has been accruing. They include (1) theoretical expectations that shock pulses should engulf and melt smaller grains more efficiently than larger grains, (2) experimental results of impact shock, albeit at lower than presumed hypervelocity impacts of micrometeorites on the lunar regolith, and (3) new analyses confirming previous results that average compositions of agglutinitic glass are biased towards that of the finest fraction of lunar soils from which they had formed. We add another reason in support of the F3 model. Finer grains of lunar soils are also much more abundant. Hence, electrostatic forces associated with the rotating terminator region bring the finest grains that are obviously much lighter than courser grains to the surface of the Moon. This further contributes to the preferential melting of the finest fraction upon micrometeoritic impacts. New backscattered electron imaging shows that agglutinitic glass is inhomogeneous at submicron scale. Composition ranges of agglutinitic glass are extreme and deviate from that of the finest fraction, even by more than an order of magnitude for some components. Additionally, we show how an ilmenite grain upon impact would produce TiO2‐rich agglutinitic glass in complete disregard to the requirements of fusion of the finest fraction. We propose an addition to the F3 model to accommodate these observations (i.e., that micrometeorite impacts indiscriminately melt the immediate target regardless of grain size or grain composition). We, therefore, suggest that (1) agglutinitic glass is the sum of (a) the melt produced by the fusion of the finest fraction of lunar soils and (b) the microvolume of the indiscriminate target, which melts at high‐shock pressures from micrometeoritic impacts, and that (2) because of the small volume of the melt and incorporating cold soil grains, the melt quenched so rapidly that it did not mix and homogenize to represent any preferential composition, for example, that of the finest fraction.  相似文献   

19.
Abstract— Any permanent presence on the Moon will require use of materials from the lunar regolith, the surface soil layer on the Moon. Thus, knowledge of the thickness of the lunar regolith is essential. It has been proposed that crater counts obtained from high Sun angle photography give larger estimates of impact crater equilibrium diameters than for low Sun angle photography, and thus deeper estimates of lunar surface regolith than were previously made using crater morphology, size of blocky rimmed craters, and equilibrium diameters determined on low Sun angle images. The purpose of this comment is to evaluate this result as a means of resolving this important question before planning for future lunar missions is undertaken  相似文献   

20.
Central peak features in 580 craters on the lunar near side were systematically studied, and detailed studies were made of several features of interest, in an attempt to define the mechanism of central peak formation. The peaks tend to be elongated along the preferred directions of the lunar grid. A weak correlation exists between peak size and crater size. Some peaks appear to have been formed or modified by volcanic processes, though strictly mechanical processes are known to produce central peaks on Earth. A more detailed knowledge of impact mechanics is required to account for the observations of the lunar central peaks.  相似文献   

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