Lunar Palaeoregolith Deposits as Recorders of the Galactic Environment of the Solar System and Implications for Astrobiology

Authors: Crawford, Ian¹; Fagents, Sarah²; Joy, Katherine³; Rumpf, M.²

Source: Earth, Moon, and Planets, Volume 107, Number 1, December 2010 , pp. 75-85(11)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

One of the principal scientific reasons for wanting to resume in situ exploration of the lunar surface is to gain access to the record it contains of early Solar System history. Part of this record will pertain to the galactic environment of the Solar System, including variations in the cosmic ray flux, energetic galactic events (e.g., supernovae and/or gamma-ray bursts), and passages of the Solar System through dense interstellar clouds. Much of this record is of astrobiological interest as these processes may have affected the evolution of life on Earth, and perhaps other Solar System bodies. We argue that this galactic record, as for that of more local Solar System processes also of astrobiological interest, will be best preserved in ancient, buried regolith (`palaeoregolith') deposits in the lunar near sub-surface. Locating and sampling such deposits will be an important objective of future lunar exploration activities.

Keywords: Moon; Lunar regolith; Galactic history; Galactic structure; Lunar exploration; Astrobiology

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11038-010-9358-z

Affiliations: 1: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HX, UK, Email: i.crawford@ucl.ac.uk 2: Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA 3: Centre for Planetary Sciences at UCL/Birkbeck, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

Publication date: 2010-12-01