The moon

, Volume 13, Issue 1–3, pp 285–292 | Cite as

A lunar soil evolution model

  • W. W. Mendell
  • D. S. McKay
Article

Abstract

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.

Keywords

Grain Size Differential Equation Evolution Model Fine Particle Grain Size Distribution 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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References

  1. Gault, D. E., Hörz, F., Brownlee, D. E., and Hartung, J. B.: 1974,Proc. Fifth Lunar Sci. Conf., 2365–2386.Google Scholar
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Copyright information

© D. Reidel Publishing Company 1975

Authors and Affiliations

  • W. W. Mendell
    • 1
  • D. S. McKay
    • 1
  1. 1.NASA Johnson Space CenterHoustonUSA

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