Lunar dichotomy in surface water storage of impact glass beads.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 40436902.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-60388-y and PMC identifier 12119804.
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Abstract
Water is the one of most precious resources for planetary utilisation. Lunar nearside impact glass beads (IGBs) have been demonstrated to contain abundant solar wind-derived water (SW-H<sub>2</sub>O); however, little is known about its farside counterpart. Here, we report the water abundances and hydrogen isotope compositions and their distribution in farside IGBs collected by the Chang'e-6 mission to investigate the role of IGBs in the lunar surface water cycle. Farside IGBs are found to have water abundances of ~10-1,070 μg.g<sup>-1</sup> with hydrogen isotopes (δD) ranging from -988‰ to >2000‰ and display typical SW-H<sub>2</sub>O hydration profiles. The SW-H<sub>2</sub>O hydration depths in farside IGBs are strikingly shallower than in nearside IGBs. Moreover, the hydration profiles are only found in mare IGBs, with none observed in non-mare IGBs, indicating that SW-H<sub>2</sub>O hydration in IGBs is likely composition dependent. These findings indicate that SW-H<sub>2</sub>O storage of IGBs exhibits a dichotomy distribution in lunar soils.