Direct Detection of Projectile Relics from the End of the Lunar Basin-Forming Epoch

The lunar surface, a key proxy for the early Earth, contains relics of asteroids and comets that have pummeled terrestrial planetary surfaces. Surviving fragments of projectiles in the lunar regolith provide a direct measure of the types and thus the sources of exogenous material delivered to the Ea...

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Published inScience (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 336; no. 6087; pp. 1426 - 1429
Main Authors Joy, Katherine H., Zolensky, Michael E., Nagashima, Kazuhide, Huss, Gary R., Ross, D. Kent, McKay, David S., Kring, David A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 15.06.2012
The American Association for the Advancement of Science
Subjects
Asteroids
Breccia
Chemical composition
Comets
Cosmochemistry. Extraterrestrial geology
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Earths Moon
Exact sciences and technology
Extraterrestrial geology
Fragments
Meteorites
Meteors & meteorites
Minerals
Moon
Olivine
Online
Planetology
Projectiles
Regolith
Rocks
Signatures
meteorites
stable isotopes
regolith
meteorite craters
detection
landing sites
maars
O-18/O-16
asteroids
impact craters
Moon
lunar soils
lunar samples
Apollo Program
chondrites
stony meteorites
Apollo 16
chondrules
lunar breccia
O-17/O-16
comets
oxygen
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Summary:The lunar surface, a key proxy for the early Earth, contains relics of asteroids and comets that have pummeled terrestrial planetary surfaces. Surviving fragments of projectiles in the lunar regolith provide a direct measure of the types and thus the sources of exogenous material delivered to the Earth-Moon system. In ancient [> 3.4 billion years ago (Ga)] regolith breccias from the Apollo 16 landing site, we located mineral and lithologie relics of magnesian chondrules from chondritic impactors. These ancient impactor fragments are not nearly as diverse as those found in younger (3.4 Ga to today) regolith breccias and soils from the Moon or that presently fall as meteorites to Earth. This suggests that primitive chondritic asteroids, originating from a similar source region, were common Earth-Moon-crossing impactors during the latter stages of the basin-forming epoch.
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ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1219633