Constitution of the Moon: 4. Composition of the mantle from seismic data

Kuskov, O. L.

doi:10.1016/s0031-9201(96)03259-1

Cited by 51 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…compared to the Earth's upper mantle (Kuskov and Kronrod 1998a). Our calculations lead to the conclusion that the phase transformations are not able to explain the nature of the 270-km and 500-km discontinuities and they show that the lunar mantle is chemically stratified (Kuskov 1997). The upper and middle mantles consist essentially of pyroxenite.…”

Section: Models Of Composition and Internal Structure Of The Moonmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…When modeling the composition and internal structure of the Moon based on its known mechanical and seismic characteristics, a five-layer model consisting of a crust, a three-layer (upper, middle, and lower) mantle, and an FeFeS core was considered Kuskov 1997, Kuskov andKronrod 1998a). We consider here a five-layer model of the internal structure of a satellite, including a silicate crust or an ice layer, a three-layer mantle (crust-mantle boundary-300 km, 300-600 km, and 600-km-core-mantle boundary), and an FeFeS core.…”

Section: Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Moon is the only extraterrestrial body for which we have information about the mantle seismic velocities as a function of depth (Goins et al 1981, Nakamura 1983. Although the question of the existence of a core was unresolved by Apollo seismic data, models of the internal structure of the Moon provide evidence for the existence of a core (Hood 1986, Kuskov 1997. The knowledge of bulk composition for the Moon enables us to discover whether bulk compositions of the Earth's upper mantle and the Earth's satellite are similar or different, and so to restrict sharply the number of hypotheses about the origin of the Moon.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The paper presents the results for determining the thicknesses of an ice-liquid shell, the mantle chemistry and density in the Na 2 OTiO 2 -CaO-FeO-MgO-Al 2 O 3 -SiO 2 system, and Fe-FeS core sizes of the satellites on the basis of minimizing the deviations of the calculated and observed geophysical parameters. For this goal, we have used the THERMOSEISM software (Kuskov 1995(Kuskov , 1997 to estimate the bulk chemistry of the satellites based on their masses and moment-of-inertia factors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Core Sizes and Internal Structure of Earth's and Jupiter's Satellites

Kuskov

Kronrod

2001

Icarus

100

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Section: Models Of Composition and Internal Structure Of The Moonmentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Core Sizes and Internal Structure of Earth's and Jupiter's Satellites

Kuskov

Kronrod

2001

Icarus

100

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“…The subsequent forty years of lunar sample analysis have only supported and strengthened the idea that indigenous water was nearly absent from the Moon's interior. In fact, this conclusion has been incorporated into many petrologic and geophysical models constructed to aid in our understanding of lunar formation and lunar geology (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11). The bulk water content of the Moon was recently estimated to be less than 1 ppb (11), which would make the Moon at least six orders of magnitude drier than the interiors of Earth (12,13) and Mars (14).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nominally hydrous magmatism on the Moon

McCubbin

Steele

Hauri

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

275

185

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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 ðPO 4 Þ 3 ðF,Cl,OHÞ] 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 H 2 O. 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. O ne of the scientific discoveries resulting from the Apollo missions was the pervasive waterless nature of the Moon and its rocks. The initial studies of the returned samples were pristine and showed no evidence of aqueous alteration, and water analyses were below detection limits. Moreover, hydrous phases were absent from the lunar rocks aside from a few unconfirmed reports of possible amphibole grains (1), which are now considered by many to represent either misidentifications or terrestrial contamination (as summarized by ref. 2). The subsequent forty years of lunar sample analysis have only supported and strengthened the idea that indigenous water was nearly absent from the Moon's interior. In fact, this conclusion has been incorporated into many petrologic and geophysical models constructed to aid in our understanding of lunar formation and lunar geology (3-11). The bulk water content of the Moon was recently estimated to be less than 1 ppb (11), which would make the Moon at least six orders of magnitude drier than the interiors of Earth (12, 13) and Mars (14). This extremely low water content is in keeping with the pervasive volatile-element depletion signature recorded in all lunar materials, because hydrogen is the most volatile of the elements. The exact cause for this volatile-element depletion is still under question; however, many have argued that it stems from the high temperatures associated with the Moon-forming giant-impact event at ∼4.5 Ga (i.e., refs. 3,8,15,and 16).Facilitated by advancements in analytical detection sensitivities for water, several recent discoveries have indicated that the story of water on the Moon is far from complete. Evi...

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