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- The moon\u2019s surface is covered in dry regolith, fragmented rocky material<\/strong>. Some of the regolith is composed of a type of rock called breccia.<\/li>\n
- Some of the breccia samples are unique and \u201csoil-like,\u201d<\/strong> according to a new study using samples from 1972, brought back to Earth in the Apollo 16 mission.<\/li>\n
- The breccia samples provide clues to the moon\u2019s history<\/strong>. This includes how the surface has changed over billions of years from meteoroid and asteroid impacts, as well as the solar wind from the sun.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Like Earth, our moon is at least 4.5 billion years old. But the moon doesn\u2019t have an atmosphere or plate tectonics. So there\u2019s no wind or rain to erode the surface, and no shifting of land plates to alter the landscape. Still, the moon\u2019s surface has changed over time. In a new study, researchers in the U.S. and U.K. analyzed lunar regolith collected by Apollo 16 astronauts more than 50 years ago. The researchers said on October 21, 2024, that these rocks are like \u201ctime capsules.\u201d They provide clues to the moon\u2019s past and present.<\/p>\n
The researchers focused on lunar breccias \u2013 a type of sedimentary rock \u2013 from the regolith. They published their peer-reviewed findings in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science<\/em> on October 15, 2024.<\/p>\n
The complex history of the moon<\/h3>\n
With no wind, weather or tectonics, the moon looks like a simple world to study, with its gray dust and ubiquitous craters. But its history is complicated, just as Earth\u2019s is. The craters are the result of collisions with debris in space \u2013 some of which we now call asteroids \u2013 primarily from a time after the moon first formed. The moon\u2019s surface is saturated with craters, which makes it difficult for scientists to determine exactly what happened when.<\/p>\n
Some of the rock samples the astronauts brought back to Earth were breccias, which tend to be composed of large angular fragments with spaces between. The spaces of the rock are filled with smaller particles and a type of mineral \u201ccement\u201d that binds the rock together. <\/p>\n
On the moon, these rocks formed when meteoroid and asteroid impacts heated and fused lunar dust (regolith) into rock. <\/p>\n
![\"Irregular](\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2024\/10\/lunar-breccia-Apollo-16-1972.jpg\")
View larger. | Sample of lunar breccia brought back to Earth by Apollo 16 in 1972. Image via James Stuby\/ NASA\/ Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0 Universal).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Analyzing breccia samples<\/h3>\n
The researchers analyzed 11 breccia samples altogether. None of these had been studied before. They were part of more than 95 kg (209 lbs) of rock samples that astronauts John Young, Charles Duke and Ken Mattingly brought back to Earth in 1972.<\/p>\n
The scientists used sophisticated analytical mass spectrometry techniques to analyze the samples. They wanted to study the makeup of gases trapped in some of the smaller chip samples, called \u201csoil-like breccias.\u201d (To note, the moon has dry dusty regolith, not soil as we know it.) In mass spectrometry, chemical substances are identified by the sorting of gaseous ions in electric and magnetic fields according to their mass-to-charge ratios.<\/p>\n
Mark Nottingham led the research while he was at the University of Manchester in the U.K. He is now at the University of Glasgow\u2019s School of Geographical & Earth Sciences. He said:<\/p>\n
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Mass spectrometry, which identifies molecules in samples and quantifies their relative abundance, can help us determine how much time the samples spent exposed on or near the moon\u2019s surface. That helps give us a clearer idea of the history of impacts on this particular area of the moon.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Nine of the samples showed exposures from 2.5 billion years ago to less than a billion. This indicated that the regolith in that area resulted from a varied history of impacts. Some of the samples had been buried, but brought to the surface by the impacts. But other samples had been on the surface and exposed to the solar wind for billions of years.<\/p>\n
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Samples collected from the surface of the Moon by the crew of Apollo 16 more than 50 years ago have helped scientists at @UofGGES<\/a> reconstruct billions of years of lunar history.<\/p>\n
Read more here: pic.twitter.com\/BUA5qEosQR<\/a><\/p>\n
- Some of the breccia samples are unique and \u201csoil-like,\u201d<\/strong> according to a new study using samples from 1972, brought back to Earth in the Apollo 16 mission.<\/li>\n
![\"Full-length](\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2024\/10\/Apollo-16-astronauts.jpg\")
![\"'Time](\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2024\/10\/John-Young-Apollo-16-moon-April-21-1972.jpg\")