. 24/7 Space News .
Memories Of Orange Rock From The Lunar Age

Schmitt inspects a rock on the lunar waste land during the last few hours man was the moon

Stunning Desktop Available
  • 800X600     1024X768
  • 640x480     1280X1024
  •  Washington - Nov 01, 2002
    The date was December 11, 1972, and the occasion was the last Apollo mission to the Moon. Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt landed in the Valley of Taurus-Littrow, the only scientist and the last of 12 men to step onto the lunar surface.

    Standing in a brilliantly sun-lit valley deeper than the Grand Canyon and gazing at a nearly full Earth in a deep black sky, Schmitt's questions about the origins of the Moon and terrestrial planets and their subsequent history took on very personal significance.

    Today, geoscientist Schmitt, literally one in six billion human beings to combine science with actual lunar exploration, continues to ponder those big questions.

    Schmitt shared some of the results of his synthesis of the research of many others this week, Oct. 29, at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Denver, CO. At the GSA Planetary Geology division's Gilbert Lecture and Award Ceremony, Schmitt discussed "A Lunar Field Geologist's Perspective 30 Years Later: Shocking Revelations about the Moon, Mars, and Earth."

    Shocking? The orange "soil" or pyroclastic glass that Schmitt found on the Moon, for example, continues to provide clues about the origin of the Moon. In Schmitt's view, it also reveals why the prevailing Giant Impact hypothesis of the Moon's origins doesn't work.

    "The major problem with this hypothesis," says Schmitt, "is that the interior of the Moon is not cooperating. Most importantly, the lower lunar mantle, based on analyses of the Apollo 17 orange pyroclastic glass, has a chondritic, that is, primordial elemental and isotopic imprint.

    This primordial imprint would have disappeared or have been significantly modified if the mantles of the Earth and the impactor had already formed as required by the current Giant Impact hypothesis.

    According to Schmitt, "If the Giant Impact hypothesis is not compatible with this evidence, alternatives to it should be considered, including capture of a small, independent planet from a solar orbit near that of the Earth's."

    Similarly, many scientists agree that the Moon's 50 or so basins greater than 300km in diameter, as well as most other ancient lunar craters, were formed at about the same time by an apparent "cataclysm" 3.9 billion years ago.

    Schmitt says "the primary argument against this hypothesis is found in the sampling sites for Apollo and lunar meteorite samples of impact-created glass for which formation ages have been determined.

    These samples have come largely from the surface of the Moon most affected by the 14 youngest large basin-forming impacts and debris thrown from them. These 14 youngest impacts are, indeed, 3.9-3.8 billion years old based on the dating of Apollo samples. A variety of volcanic and impact evidence indicates that it is highly unlikely that all the 35 or more older impact basins formed during the same interval.

    "One of the most exciting aspects of studying lunar origin and evolution is applying that understanding to the early Earth and Mars," says Schmitt. "And herein lies a 'shocking' revelation about the possible origin of Earth's first continents."

    The 2500km diameter basin on the far-side of the Moon, known as South Pole-Aitken, records an impact of an extraordinarily energetic object near the end of the period of smaller scale saturation cratering that followed the solidification of the lunar crust.

    South Pole-Aitken is just the most obvious manifestation of possibly three or four other such huge early impacts, including the 3200km diameter front-side basin called Procellarum.

    Schmitt estimates that the Procellarum basin formed at about 4.3 b.y and South Pole-Aitken at about 4.2 b.y. If these formation ages are in the ballpark, they suggest an explanation for detrital zircon (ZrSiO4) crystals of about the same ages in very old sedimentary rocks on Earth.

    Early impacts of the scale of South Pole-Aitken and Procellarum, occurring in water-rich environments such as the Earth and Mars, would create thick sheets of impact generated rock melt on a continental scale. As these magma sheets crystallized, zirconium concentrations may have reached levels that produced the very old zircons.

    And what about Mars? Schmitt also suggests that there is evidence for and reason to believe that Mars had both early (older than 4.2 billion years) and late (younger than 3.8 billion years) oceans due to separate periods of intense volcanic eruptions that included abundant water.

    The shores of these two oceans appear to have been identified in the data returned by the Mars Surveyor spacecraft now in orbit around that planet. Further, he speculates that the most stable ecological niche for Martian life has been the boundary between the subsurface water ice zone and liquid water expected beneath that zone.

    If simple, one cell life forms evolved on Mars in parallel with their evolution on the Earth prior to 3.8 billion years ago, they may have adapted to survive in this global niche as the surface of Mars became hostile to any life.

    "Extrapolating what we now know about the Moon and applying it to Earth, Venus, Mars, and Mercury -- the terrestrial planets -- is one of the primary scientific returns of lunar research. But looking ahead, the Moon will also mature our thinking about the gas giants and other parts of the solar system," says Schmitt.

    For example, whether as a result of a cataclysm or not, where did the objects originate that created the 50 or more large basins on the Moon? He'll continue to contribute to that work, this time with his feet firmly planted on Earth, while developing a business rationale to return to the Moon for its energy resources.

    Related Links
    Geological Society of America
    SpaceDaily
    Search SpaceDaily
    Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express

    The Moon Beyond 2002: Next Steps in Lunar Science and Exploration
    Los Alamos - Sep 12, 2002
    The Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory is hosting an international gathering of lunar scientists in Taos, N.M. beginning Thursday. Los Alamos, who played a major role in the recent Lunar Prospector mission to the moon, together with the University of California Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Los Alamos' Center for Space Science and Exploration and the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas, is organizing and hosting "The Moon Beyond 2002: Next Steps in Lunar Science and Exploration."



    Thanks for being here;
    We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

    With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

    Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

    If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
    SpaceDaily Contributor
    $5 Billed Once


    credit card or paypal
    SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
    $5 Billed Monthly


    paypal only














    The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.