Complex Indigenous Organic Matter Embedded in Apollo 17 Volcanic Black Glass Surface Deposits.

摘要

Papers presented at the first Lunar Science Conference (1) and those published in the subsequent Science Moon Issue (2) reported the C content of Apollo II soils, breccias, and igneous rocks as rang-ing from approx.50 to 250 parts per million (ppm). Later Fegley & Swindle (3) summarized the C content of bulk soils from all the Apollo missions as ranging from 2.5 (Apollo 15) to 280 ppm (Apollo 16) with an overall average of 124+/- 45 ppm. These values are unexpectedly low given that multiple processes should have contributed (and in some cases continue to contribute) to the lunar C inventory. These include exogenous accretion of cometary and asteroidal dust, solar wind implantation, and synthesis of C-bearing species during early lunar volcanism. We estimate the contribution of C from exogenous sources alone is approx. 500 ppm, which is approx. 4x greater than the reported average.