Volatile content of lunar volcanic glasses and the presence of water in the Moon’s interior

Alberto E. Saal (), Erik H. Hauri, Mauro L. Cascio, James A. Van Orman, Malcolm C. Rutherford and Reid F. Cooper
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Alberto E. Saal: Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA
Erik H. Hauri: Carnegie Institution of Washington
Mauro L. Cascio: Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA
James A. Van Orman: Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA
Malcolm C. Rutherford: Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA
Reid F. Cooper: Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA

Nature, 2008, vol. 454, issue 7201, 192-195

Abstract: Lunar glass: Reflections on a watery Moon Although it has been suggested — controversially — that water ice might be found in the permanently shadowed deep polar craters on the Moon, the bulk Moon is thought to have lost virtually all of the highly volatile elements, including water, long ago during the catastrophic heating events that led to its formation. Hydrogen, as the lightest element, is thought to have been completely lost. Saal et al. used the latest secondary ion mass spectrometry techniques to derive improved limits on the indigenous volatile (CO2, H2O, F, S, Cl) contents of the most primitive basalts in the Moon, the lunar volcanic glasses. Their best estimate of the pre-eruptive water content is 745 p.p.m., with 260 p.p.m. as a minimum. This suggests that the bulk Moon is not entirely depleted in water and other highly volatile elements.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07047

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