Moon's interior water casts doubt on formation theory (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Jason Palmer
Science and technology reporter, BBC News

An analysis of sediments brought back by the Apollo 17 mission has shown that the Moon's interior holds far more water than previously thought.

The analysis, reported in Science, has looked at pockets of volcanic material locked within tiny glass beads.

It found 100 times more water in the beads than has been measured before, and suggests that the Moon once held a Caribbean Sea-sized volume of water.

The find also casts doubt on aspects of theories of how the Moon first formed.

A series of studies in recent years has only served to increase the amount of water thought to be on the Moon.
***
more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13545848
abstract: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2011/05/25/science.1204626

[Viking 1]

1. Our own private Europa

K&R

[meow mix]

2. amazing.

:popcorn:

[jberryhill]

3. You can't explain that

The current theory is the best fit to the earth's rotation and the tidal locking of the moon's rotation.

Getting additional liquid water from comets since then doesn't seem all that hard.

[AmericaIsGreat]

4. lol

Bill is right on this one, I guess. We can't.

[bananas]

5. Three years ago the same team reported the first evidence for water in lunar volcanic glasses

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-moon-interior-earth-upper-mantle.html

<snip>

Three years ago the same team, in a study led by Saal, reported the first evidence for the presence of water in lunar volcanic glasses and applied magma degassing models to estimate how much water was originally in the magmas before eruption.

"The bottom line," said Saal, "is that in 2008, we said the primitive water content in the lunar magmas should be similar to lavas coming from the Earth's depleted upper mantle. Now, we have proven that is indeed the case."