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Water on moon, Earth came from same primitive meteorites
by Staff Writers
Cleveland OH (SPX) May 13, 2013

File image.



The discovery's telltale sign is found in the ratio of an isotopic form of hydrogen, called deuterium, to standard hydrogen. The ratio in the Earth's water and in water from specks of volcanic glass trapped in crystals within moon dust match the ratio found in the chondrites. The proportions are far different from those in comet water.


By showing that water on the moon and Earth came from the same source, this new study offers yet more evidence that the moon's water has been there all along, or nearly so.

"The simplest explanation for what we found is that there was water on the proto-Earth at the time of the giant impact," said Alberto Saal, a geochemist at Brown University and the study's lead author. "Some of that water survived the impact, and that's what we see in the moon."




Research from 2011, led by Hauri, found that the melt inclusions have plenty of water-as much water, in fact, as lavas forming on the Earth's ocean floor. This study aimed to find the origin of that water. To do that, Saal and his colleagues looked at the isotopic composition of the hydrogen trapped in the inclusions.




Comets, like meteorites, are known to carry water and other volatiles. But most comets were formed in the icy Oort Cloud, more than 1,000 times more distant than Neptune. Because comets formed so far from the sun, they tend to have high deuterium/hydrogen ratios-much higher ratios than in the moon's interior, where the samples in this study originated.

"The measurements themselves were very difficult," Hauri said, "but the new data provide the best evidence yet that the carbon-bearing chondrites were a common source for the volatiles in the Earth and moon, and perhaps the entire inner solar system."

To determine the ratios that would currently be found deep in the moon's interior, Van Orman and Saal modeled the loss of gasses from inside melt inclusions and the influence of degassing on the deuterium.

The researchers also had to take into account the impact of cosmic rays-high-energy rays that carry charged particles-on the water trapped inside the inclusions.



The finding is not necessarily inconsistent with the idea that the moon was formed by a giant impact with the early Earth, but presents a problem. If the moon is made from material that came from the Earth, it makes sense that the water in both would share a common source, Saal said. However, there's still the question of how that water was able to survive such a violent collision.

"Our work suggests that even highly volatile elements may not be lost completely during a giant impact," said Van Orman. "We need to go back to the drawing board and discover more about what giant impacts do, and we also need a better handle on volatile inventories in the moon."

The research is published online in Science Express.


Related Links
Case Western Reserve University
Asteroid and Comet Impact Danger To Earth - News and Science


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