Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Nanophase Fe0 in lunar soils

  • Published:
Journal of Earth System Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Back scattered electron and transmission electron imaging of lunar soil grains reveal an abundance of submicrometer-sized pure Fe0 globules that occur in the rinds of many soil grains and in the submillimeter sized vesicular glass-cemented grains called agglutinates. Grain rinds are amorphous silicates that were deposited on grains exposed at the lunar surface from transient vapors produced by hypervelocity micrometeorite impacts. Fe0 may have dissociated from Fe-compounds in a high temperature (>3000°C) vapor phase and then condensed as globules on grain surfaces. The agglutinitic glass is a quenched product of silicate melts, also produced by micrometeorite impacts on lunar soils. Reduction by solar wind hydrogen in agglutinitic melts may have produced immiscible droplets that solidified as globules. The exact mechanism of formation of such Fe0 globules in lunar soils remains unresolved.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen C C, Morris R V and Mckay D S 1994 Experimental reduction of lunar mare soil and volcanic glass;JGR-Planets 99 23,173–23,185.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen C C, Morris R V and McKay D S 1996 Oxygen extraction from lunar soils and pyroclastic glass;JGR-Planets 101 26,085–26,095.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnold J R 1975 A Monte Carlo model for the gardening of the lunar regolith;The Moon 13 159–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basu A 1977 Steady state, exposure age and growth of agglutinates in lunar soils;Proc. Lunar Sci. Conf. 8th, Pp. 3617-3632.

  • Basu A and Meinschein W G 1976 Agglutinates and carbon accumulation in Apollo 17 lunar soils;Proc. Lunar Sci. Conf. 7th, Pp. 337-369.

  • Bhandari N and Shah V G 1979 Potassium-rich globules in the Luna-20 soil;Proceedings Indian National Acad. Sci. (Part A),45(3) 5–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bean A L, Conrad C C Jr. and Gordon R F 1970 Crew observations; Apollo 12 Preliminary Science Report, NASA SP-235, Pp. 29–38.

  • Chanda S K 1963 Cementation and diagenesis of the Lameta beds, Lametaghat MP, India;J. Sed. Pet. 33 728–738.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christofferson R, Keller L P and McKay D S 1996 Microstructure, chemistry, and origin of grain rims on ilmenite from the lunar soil finest fraction;Meteoritics Planet. Sci. 31 835–848.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cintala M J 1992 Impact-induced thermal effects in the lunar and Mercurian regoliths;JGR-Planets 97 947–973.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clanton U S, McKay D S, Laughon R B and Ladle G H 1973 Iron crystals in lunar breccias;Proc. Lunar Sci. Conf. 4th, Pp. 925-931.

  • Cloud P, Margolis S V, Moorman M, Barker J M, Licari G R, Krinsley D and Barnes V E 1970, Micromorphology and surface characteristics of lunar dust and breccia;Science 167 776–778.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford D A and Schultz P H 1999 Electromagnetic properties of impact-generated plasma, vapor and debris;Int. J. Impact Eng. 23 160–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hapke B 1975 Effects of vapor-phase deposition processes of the optical, chemical, and magnetic properties of the lunar regolith;The Moon 13 339–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hapke B 2001 Space weathering from Mercury to the asteroid belt;JGR-Planets 106 10,039–10,073.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heiken G, Vaniman D and French B M (eds) 1991, Lunar Sourcebook, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, p. 736.

    Google Scholar 

  • Housley R M, Cirlin E H, Paton N E and Goldberg I B 1974 Solar wind and micrometeorite alteration of the lunar regolith;Proc. Lunar Sci. Conf. 5th, Pp. 2623-2642.

  • Housley R M, Grant R W and Abdel-Gawad M 1972 Study of excess Fe metal in the lunar fines by magnetic separation, Mossbauer spectroscopy, and microscopic examination.Proc. Lunar Sci. Conf. 3rd, Pp. 1065-1076.

  • James C, Basu A, Wentworth S J and McKay D S 2001 Grain size distribution of Fe0 globules in lunar agglutinitic glass: first results from Apollo 17 soil 78421;Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Prog. 33 A311.

    Google Scholar 

  • James C, Letsinger S, Basu A, Wentworth S J and McKay D S 2002 Size distribution of Fe0 globules in lunar agglutinitic glass; Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. XXXIII, Abstract # 1827 (CD-ROM).

  • Keller L P and Clemmet S J 2001 Formation of nanophase iron in the lunar regolith: Lunar Planet. Sci. XXXII, Abstract # 2097 (CD-ROM).

  • Keller L P and McKay D S 1993 Discovery of vapor deposits in the lunar regolith;Science 261 1305–1307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keller L P and McKay D S 1992 Micrometer-sized glass spheres in Apollo 16 soil 61181; implications for impact volatilization and condensation:Proc. of the Lunar and Planetary Sci. Conf. 22nd,22 137–141.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keller L P and McKay D S 1997 The nature and origin of rims on lunar soil grains;Geochim. et Cosmochim. Acta 61 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan A and Mosegaard K 2001 New information on the deep lunar interior from an inversion of lunar free oscillation periods;Geophys. Res. Lett. 28 1791–1794.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan A, Mosegaard K and Rasmussen K L 2000 A new seismic velocity model for the Moon from a Monte Carlo inversion of the Apollo lunar seismic data;Geophys. Res. Lett. 27 1591–1594.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Margolis S V, Barnes V, Cloud P and Fisher R V 1971 Surface micrography of lunar fines compared with tektites and terrestrial volcanic analogs;Proc. of the Lunar Sci. Conf. 2nd, Pp. 909-921.

  • McKay D S and Basu A 1983 The production curve for agglutinates in planetary regoliths;Proc. Lunar Sci. Conf. 14th, Pp. B193–B199.

  • McKay D S, Fruland R M and Heiken G H 1974 Grain size and evolution of lunar soils;Proc. Lunar Sci. Conf. 5th, Pp. 887–906.

  • McKay D S, Heiken G H, Basu A, Blanford G, Simon S, Reedy R, French B M and Papike J J 1991 The lunar regolith; In: Lunar Sourcebook, Heiken G H, Vaniman D and French B (eds), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, Pp. 285–356.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris R V 1977 Origin and evolution of the grain-size dependence of the concentration of fine-grained metal in lunar soils: the maturation of lunar soils to a steady-state stage:Proc. Lunar Sci. Conf. 8th, Pp. 3719-3748.

  • Morris R V 1980 Origins and size distribution of metallic iron particles in the lunar regolith;Proc. Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. 11th, Pp. 1697–1712.

  • Schaal R B and Horz F 1977 Shock metamorphism of lunar and terrestrial basalts;Proc. Lunar Planet Sci. Conf. 8th,Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta., Pp. 1697-1729.

  • Schultz P H 1996 Effect of impact angle on vaporization;JGR-Planets 101 21,117–21,136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spudis P D 1996 The Once and Future Moon, Washington, Smithsonian, p. 308.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sugita S and Schultz P H 1999 Spectroscopic characterization of hypervelocity jetting: comparison with a standard theory;JGR-Planets 104 30,825–30,845.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stöffler D, Gault D E, Wedekind J and Polkowski G 1975 Experimental hypervelocity impact into quartz sand: Distribution and shock metamorphism of ejecta;JGR 80 4062–4077.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor S R 1982 Planetary Science: A Lunar Perspective. LPI, Houston, U.S.A., p. 481.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor L A and Cirlin E-H 1985 A review of ESR studies on lunar samples; In: ESR Dating and Dosimetry, Ikeya M and Miki T (eds) Tokyo, IONICS, Pp. 19–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yakovlev O I, Dikov Yu P, Gerasimov M V, Wlotzka F and Huth J 2002 The behavior of Pt in silicate melts during impact-simulated high temperature heating; Lunar Planet. Sci. XXXIII Abstract # 1271 (CD-ROM).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, Indiana University, 1001 East 10th Street, 47405, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Abhijit Basu

Authors
  1. Abhijit Basu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Basu, A. Nanophase Fe0 in lunar soils. J Earth Syst Sci 114, 375–380 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02702956

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02702956

Keywords

Search

Navigation