Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 107, Issue 25, Pages 11223-11228Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1006677107
Keywords
fluorapatite; lunar water; magma ocean; mare basalt; NWA 773
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Funding
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) [NNX08AZ04G]
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [21340161]
- Carnegie Institution of Washington, Geophysical Laboratory
- NASA Astrobiology Institute
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [21340161] Funding Source: KAKEN
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For the past 40 years, the Moon has been described as nearly devoid of indigenous water; however, evidence for water both on the lunar surface and within the lunar interior have recently emerged, calling into question this long-standing lunar dogma. In the present study, hydroxyl (as well as fluoride and chloride) was analyzed by secondary ion mass spectrometry in apatite [Ca-5(PO4)(3)(F,Cl,OH)] from three different lunar samples in order to obtain quantitative constraints on the abundance of water in the lunar interior. This work confirms that hundreds to thousands of ppm water (of the structural form hydroxyl) is present in apatite from the Moon. Moreover, two of the studied samples likely had water preserved from magmatic processes, which would qualify the water as being indigenous to the Moon. The presence of hydroxyl in apatite from a number of different types of lunar rocks indicates that water may be ubiquitous within the lunar interior, potentially as early as the time of lunar formation. The water contents analyzed for the lunar apatite indicate minimum water contents of their lunar source region to range from 64 ppb to 5 ppm H2O. This lower limit range of water contents is at least two orders of magnitude greater than the previously reported value for the bulk Moon, and the actual source region water contents could be significantly higher.
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