Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Chemistry Of The Protolunar Disk And Volatile Depletion Of The Moon, Channon Visscher, Robin M. Canup, Julien Salmon, Bruce Fegley Jr.

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In the giant impact theory for lunar origin, the Moon forms from a circumterrestrial disk of silicate debris produced by the collision of a planetary-sized impactor with the early Earth. Recent accretion models suggest that the final 10-60% of the lunar mass may be provided by the accretion of melt material spreading outward from the inner (Roche-interior) disk over the first ~102 years following the giant impact. The chemical and thermal evolution of the inner disk material is thus expected to strongly influence the bulk chemical composition of the Moon.

In a previous study we explored the chemistry of the …