# Presentation: 694380

## Lunar Geology for Engineers and ScientistsLecture #2 / #3

- Dr. Paul Lowman
- 4-6453		January 12, 2006
- _[Paul.D.Lowman@nasa.gov](mailto:Paul.D.Lowman@nasa.gov)_

## Lecture #2 / #3

**Chemistry of the Moon**
- GSFC, Bld 26, Rm. 205, January 12, 2006
**Mineralogy of the Moon**
- GSFC, Bld 26, Rm. 205, January 14, 2006
- Viewgraphs

- Lunar Lecture #2

## Introduction

- Best NASA plan in 40 years
- “The Vision for Space Exploration” & “NASA’s Exploration Architecture”
- Announcements of Opportunity due this spring
- Our management working very hard to make this happen
- AO’s will suddenly appear with short fuse
- It’s Our Job to Get Our Fair Share
- Work as a team & as teams

- Lunar Lecture #2

## Lecture Format

- Intro, Short Talk, Q&A, Info Table
- Each starts very basic
- Quickly become state of the art
- References for farther study
- Request Materials:
- Tom Riley, _[John.T.Riley@nasa.gov](mailto:John.T.Riley@nasa.gov)_
- Let me know of other speakers
- Next Lecture:
- #3, Tuesday, January 17, 2006, Bld 26, Rm 205

- Lunar Lecture #2

## Lecturer: Dr. Paul Lowman

- Degrees: B.S., Geology, Rutgers,1953;  Ph.D., Geology, U. of Colorado,1963
- 1962-1964 :  NASA Headquarters; Apollo geophysics planning
- 1966-1968:  Chairman, Working Group On Extraterrestrial             Resources
- 1963-1970:  Lecturer, lunar geology, Catholic University,                      Air Force Institute of Technology, U. of California.
- 1969-1972:  GSFC, Co-investigator, Apollo 11 and 12 samples Co-investigator, Apollo 15 and 16 X-ray fluorescence
- 1987:  NASA Headquarters, Space Leadership Planning Group
- 1990-1991:  GSFC Exploration Program Scientist
- Date: Geophysicist, Planetary Geodynamics Branch,                 GSFC Code 698

- Lunar Lecture #2

## Chemistry of the Moon

- Periodic Table
- Esp. rare earth elements, radioactive elements
- Radioactive decay;
-  isotopic dating (Rb-Sr methods);
-  U - Pb series
- Chemical bonds
- covalent, ionic, metallic, van der Waals, hydrogen
- Phase Rule (F = C -P + 2) and phase diagrams
- Ideal Gas laws (PV=nRT)
- Crystallography (cubic, hexagonal, orthorhombic, tetragonal,      triclinic, monoclinic systems )
-  X-ray diffraction
- Bragg's Law (n *lambda* = 2d sin *theta*)
- Colloids (esp. adsorption of gases by solids)
- Organic chemistry

- Lunar Lecture #2

## www.webelements.com

**www.webelements.com**

- Lunar Lecture #2

## The Uranium – Radium

**The Uranium – Radium**
** ****Family**

*General Chemistry,*
* *Pauling, 1947

- Lunar Lecture #2

## Generalized Decay Curve

- N = radioactive element
- D = Stable daughter

- Strontium Isotope Geology
-  G. Faure, J.. Powell, Springer ,1972

- Lunar Lecture #2

## Rb – Sr Isochron

- Lunar Lecture #2

## (comagmatic rock)

**(****comagmatic**** rock)**

- Lunar Lecture #2

## KREEPy breccia, Apollo 12, Sample 12013

***KREEPy breccia, Apollo 12, Sample 12013***
*Reflected light, W face of sawed slab 12013,11; NASA photo S70-453171*

- Lunar Lecture #2

## KREEPy breccia, Apollo 12, Sample 12013

***KREEPy breccia, Apollo 12, Sample 12013***
*Composite thin section of slab12013,9 (ca. same size as 12013,11)*

- Lunar Lecture #2

## Radiometric age

**Radiometric age**
** ****determinations**
- Made by Caltech
-  lunar sample analysis
- team on
- Apollo sample12013
- using rubidium-
- strontium methods

- Lunatic Asylum *sic,*
-  Earth & Planet. Sci.
-  Lett., 9, 137-163, 1970

- Lunar Lecture #2

## Phase Diagram of Water

**Phase Diagram of Water**

- Lunar Lecture #2

## Phase relations in the Or-Ab-An system,

**Phase relations in the Or-Ab-An system,**
**(a) At high temperatures, (b) at moderate temperatures**

- Lunar Lecture #2

**Notes:**
From Berry and Mason, 1959

## Composition and phase relations in the common pyroxenes (Berry and Mason, 1959)

**Composition and phase relations in the common pyroxenes (Berry and Mason, 1959)**
- At high temperatures, (b) at medium temperatures.
- The unshaded areas represent the miscibility gap between
- high-calcic and low-calcic pyroxenes, which increases with decreasing temperatures

- Lunar Lecture #2

## Thin section of Apollo 11 basalt 10047, plane-polarized light.

**Thin section of Apollo 11 basalt 10047, plane-polarized light.**
-   Note sharp crystal outlines and lack of alteration.
- White crystals are plagioclase, gray pyroxene, black ilmenite*.*

- Lunar Lecture #2

## Troctolite, Apollo 17

**Troctolite, Apollo 17**
- Plagioclase (white)
- Olivine (brown)
- Reference:
- French, In the New
- Solar System, Beatty et al.
- 1982

- Lunar Lecture #2

## Highland breccia,

**Highland breccia**,
- Apollo 16
- Plagioclase (white)
- Impact melt? (black)

- Lunar Lecture #2

## Thin section of Apollo 12 olivine basalt 12022

**Thin section of Apollo 12 olivine basalt 12022**

- Lunar Lecture #2

## Thin section of Apollo 12 polymict breccia 12057

**Thin section of Apollo 12 polymict breccia 12057**

- Lunar Lecture #2

## Bar graphs showing

**Bar graphs showing**
** ****modal (volumetric) abundances of principal particle types**
**in 14 lunar soil samples*** *

- This diagram distinguishes
- between rock fragments
- (mare lithics, highland lithics),
- single minerals
- (pyroxene,olivine,plagioclase), glass,
- and fused soil (agglutinates + DMB-
-  Dark Matrix Breccia).
- Samples from Apollo 11,12,
- 14, 15, 16,17,and  Luna 16 and 24.
- From Lunar Sourcebook, Heiken,Vaniman, and French,Cambridge University Press, 1991.
* *

- Lunar Lecture #2

## Chemical Evolution of the Moon

- Extremely rapid, high temperature formation process
-  Giant impact? Independent origin? Fission? Capture?
-  Reference: Lowman, The relation of tektites to lunar igneous activity, Icarus, v.2, p. 35-48, 1963.
-  Heat sources:
- Accretion energy
- Adiabatic compression
- Tidal friction (from capture?)
- Short-lived isotopes (Al 26, Be 10,U 236, Ca 135)
- Long-lived isotopes (U, Th, K40)
-  Chemical consequences:
-  Depletion in volatiles (H20, K, Na, Rb)
-  Oxidation state (highly reduced vs. Earth)
-  Moon deficient in Fe (vs. Earth)
- Most important: NO WATER

- Lunar Lecture #2

## Mineralogy of the Moon

- Mineral:
-  naturally-occurring, crystalline, inorganic (usually), solid substance with a definite chemical composition or range of compositions, mechanically separable
- Major Terrestrial Rock-Forming Minerals (crust)
- Quartz
- Feldspars
- Pyroxenes
- Olivine
- Ice
*   **Amphiboles (hornblende, etc.)*
*   **Calcite, dolomite*
*   **Micas*
*   **Clay minerals*
*   **Ferric oxides (limonite, hematite)*
*   **Serpentine minerals*
- Italicized minerals not found on Moon because of lack of water.

- Lunar Lecture #2

## Major Lunar Rock-forming Minerals

- Quartz: SiO2
- Most common simple mineral in Earth’s crust, very rare on Moon. Like Hawaii. Why?
- Plagioclase feldspar
- Pyroxenes
- Olivine
- Ilmenite (FeTiO3)
- Iron (Fe)

- Lunar Lecture #2