The early moon would have been rich in water – Futura

We now know that the moon contains more water in its rocks than the samples brought back by Apollo suggest. A new study now reveals that the early moon's magma ocean must also have been rich in volatile elements.

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Water on the moon? The idea may seem completely far-fetched. And for good reason, all of the samples brought back by the ApolloApollo missions showed that there were almost no volatile elements present in the lunar rocks. Thanks to new analysis, we now know that the moon is not as dry as previously thought and that it even contains impressive amounts of water, trapped in microscopic glass beads.

Ferroic anorthosites, remnants of the lunar magma ocean

A new study now shows that water has always been present on the moon, especially shortly after its formation. It is worth remembering that the moon was formed about 4.5 billion years ago after the gigantic collision between a small planet and the Earth. The material thrown into space will quickly transform and create our natural satellite.

As a ball of magma, the moon then begins to cool, which leads to the crystallization of an initial crust. Fortunately, some fragments of this crust came to us thanks to meteorites. They are composed of ferroanorthosites, which have the peculiarity of not containing apatite, a mineral that contains volatile elements. Well, that's what we thought.

A primitive moon that isn't so barren after all

For the first time, researchers have identified apatite in a meteorite that belongs to the ferroic anorthosite group. These results, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, therefore indicate that the primordial moon must have been much less free of volatile elements and especially water than previously assumed.