Inert gases in Sea of Fertility regolith
Abstract
The content and isotopic composition were studied of inert gases -- He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe -- in samples of lunar regolith returned by the Luna 16 automatic station. The samples were taken from depths of about 12 and 30 cm. The high concentrations of inert gases exceed by several orders their concentrations observed in ordinary stony meteorites. The gases in lunar regolith were a complex mixture of gases of different origins: Solar, cosmogenic, radiogenic, and so on. Solar wind gases predominated, distributed in the thin surficial layer of the regolith grains. The concentrations of these gases in the surficial layer is several cubic centimeters per gram. The isotopic composition of the inert gases of solar origin approaches their composition measured in gas-rich meteorites.
- Publication:
-
In its Lunar Soil From the Sea of Fertility (NASA-TT-F-15881) p 334-347 (SEE N75-11814 02-91) Transl. into ENGLISH from the book "Lunnyy Grunt iz Morya Izobiliya'' Moscow
- Pub Date:
- October 1974
- Bibcode:
- 1974lsfs.nasa..334V
- Keywords:
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- Lunar Maria;
- Lunar Soil;
- Lunik 16 Lunar Probe;
- Rare Gases;
- Argon;
- Gas Composition;
- Helium;
- Krypton;
- Neon;
- Xenon;
- Lunar and Planetary Exploration