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Published September 29, 2024 | Published
Journal Article Open

Vapor Condensates on the Most Pristine Black Beads From a Clod in Apollo Drive Tube 73001: Discovery of Lunar NaCl Nanocrystals

  • 1. ROR icon Jet Propulsion Lab
  • 2. ROR icon California Institute of Technology

Abstract

Identification of the mineral species of vapor condensates on the surface of lunar pyroclastic beads, formed during the flights of beads in the lunar volcanic plume, helps to constrain the physical and chemical conditions of the lunar volcanic plume. We conducted nanomineralogy studies of vapor condensates on the surface of pristine black beads from a clod that was extracted from the recently opened Apollo drive tube 73001. This drive tube had been sealed under vacuum since its collection on the Moon and thus represents the most pristine sample in allocatable Apollo collection. Vapor condensates observed on the surface include patches made of ZnS nanocrystals and possible rare scattered NaCl nanocrystals. ZnS nanocrystals were previously found on Apollo 15 green and yellow beads, but NaCl nanocrystals are unique to black beads. Both ZnS and NaCl nanocrystals are absent in Apollo 17 74220 orange beads. Although orange and black beads are of similar chemistry, black beads in the clod 73001, 226 could form from a different environment.

Copyright and License

© 2024 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged.

Acknowledgement

The authors do not perceive any financial conflicts of interest or conflicts of interest. We thank the lunar curation office for allocating samples and providing information relating to sample processing history, Mikhail Zolotov for comments on the thermochemical models, and Chip Shearer for editorial handling of the manuscript. The manuscript benefited from the constructive suggestions from two anonymous reviewers. Y.L. acknowledges partial support from NASA SSW (80NM0018F0612) and the Artemis III Geology Team (80NM0018F0719). SEM and EDS analyses were carried out at the Caltech GPS Division Analytical Facility, which is supported, in part, by NSF Grants DMR-0080065 and EAR-2117942. Part of the research was performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004).

Data Availability

The raw EDS data for Figures 3 and 6 and Figure S4 in Supporting Information S1 are available at the JPL Open Repository (Liu & Ma, 2024).

Supplemental Material

Supporting Information S1: 2024JE008444-sup-0001-Supporting Information SI-S01.docx (1.6 MB)

Files

JGR Planets - 2024 - Liu - Vapor Condensates on the Most Pristine Black Beads From a Clod in Apollo Drive Tube 73001 .pdf

Additional details

Created:
October 4, 2024
Modified:
October 4, 2024