"Long suspected theory about the moon holds water" Topic

"A team of Japanese scientists led by Masahiro Kayama of Tohoku University's Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, has discovered a mineral known as moganite in a lunar meteorite found in a hot desert in northwest Africa.

This is significant because moganite is a mineral that requires water to form, reinforcing the belief that water exists on the Moon.

"Moganite is a crystal of silicon dioxide and is similar to quartz. It forms on Earth as a precipitate when alkaline water including SiO2 is evaporated under high pressure conditions," says Kayama. "The existence of moganite strongly implies that there is water activity on the Moon."…."
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Amicalement
Armand

"Long Suspected Theory … "

You meant the one that claims it's made of cheese? :)

Dan

This is significant because moganite is a mineral that requires water to form, reinforcing the belief that water exists on the Moon.

Or it reinforces that the Moon was formed from the Earth in the Big Thwack.

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Good point!.

Amicalement
Armand

I'm pretty sure that the idea is that the "big thwack" was a complete melting episode, so while the material might have originated on earth, it couldn't have characteristics from earth. I believe the idea is also that the water of either body arrived after that collision.

That said, can we start a movement to permanently call it "The Big Thwack"? I love that!

I think that moment is already here!

Gladue, sorry I'm responding late beyond the simple thing above.

Most water on Earth is not in a liquid form. It is in a hydroxyl form and bound to minerals hundreds of miles below the surface. This way water can exist at extremely high temperatures and pressures. The only way we can find this out is when these water bearing rocks are flung to the surface by volcanoes (ringwoodite is but one example). At standard temperature and pressure the water may form back into the form we know. The problem is guessing how much water is held at or below the mantle by these hydrous rocks. Current estimates go anywhere from 1.5 to 11 times the total of all the surface and atmospheric water. Hydrogeologists guess that the best estimate may be three times, at least that's the number most often given in articles.

I assume that any surface liquid water would evaporate at the early conditions prior to the big thwack, but that the hydrous rocks in the resulting Earth/ Thea and Moon would keep their water intact. That's why we find water in both bodies. New research suggests that the water was here all along, although that doesn't preclude later water arriving in chondrite meteors and meteorites. As you may well know chondrites meteorites formed at the same time our solar system did and they contain a good degree of water.

The existence of moganite is just more icing on the cake.

Thanks for actually talking science……on a Science board no less.