Lunar soil record of atmosphere loss over eons.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39093970.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.adm7074 and PMC identifier 11296337.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The Moon has a tenuous atmosphere produced by space weathering. The short-lived nature of the atoms surrounding the Moon necessitates continuous replenishment from lunar regolith through mechanisms such as micrometeorite impacts, ion sputtering, and photon-stimulated desorption. Despite advances, previous remote sensing and space mission data have not conclusively disentangled the contributions of these processes. Using high-precision potassium (K) and rubidium (Rb) isotopic analyses of lunar soils from the Apollo missions, our study sheds light on the lunar surface-atmosphere evolution over billions of years. The observed correlation between K and Rb isotopic ratios (δ <sup>87</sup>Rb = 0.17 δ <sup>41</sup>K) indicates that, over long timescales, micrometeorite impact vaporization is the primary source of atoms in the lunar atmosphere.