Third Lunar Science Conference
Abstract
Two years ago the first scientific investigations of returned lunar samples were reported at the Apollo 11 Lunar Science Conference (1). Samples from the first mission to the moon had been in the hands of investigators for 3 months or less, and the picture of the moon that emerged at that time was necessarily restricted in scope. We learned that Tranquillity Base is underlain by basaltic rock that erupted onto the mare surface 3.7 X 10^9 years ago, rock that is generally similar to terrestrial basalts but with important differences: titanium and other refractory elements are enhanced in abundance, sodium and other volatile elements are depleted, and the water content and oxidation potential o!f the lunar basalt lava are orders of magnitude lower than those of analogous terrestrial lavas. The existence of other types of rock on the moon was only glimpsed, and the structure and evolution of the moon remained a mystery.
Additional Information
© 1972 American Association for the Advancement of Science. This article was prepared by the Lunar Sample Analysis Planning Team. Participating were A. Burlingame. University of California, Berkeley; D. Burnett, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena; B. Doe, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver; D. Gault, NASA Ames Research Center, S Moffett Field, California; L. Haskin and H. Schnoes, University of Wisconsin, Madison; D. Heymann, Rice University, Houston, Texas W. Melson, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; J. Papike, State University of New York Stony Brook; R. Tilling, U.S. Geological Survey and NASA headquarters, Washington, D.C.; N. Toksoz, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge; and J. Wood, Smithsonian Astrophysical ObservatorY, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The manuscript was compiled by J. Wood. R. K. McConnell, Jr., and P. W. Gast, in a paper delivered at the Conference on Lunar Geophysics held at the Lunar Science Institute, Houston, Texas, 18 to 21 October 1971.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 62049
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20151111-095216486
- Created
-
2015-11-18Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences