Estimation of the mass fraction and distribution of ice in a lunar regolith simulant from seismic velocity

Abstract

The exploration of ice distribution on the Moon and in other extraterrestrial environments has recently accelerated because of the growing interest in the distribution of ice in, and its acquisition from, the Moon's polar regions. Understanding of the relationship between the mass fraction of ice and the velocities of P-wave and S-wave is expected to allow ice amounts to be estimated from seismic exploration results. To clarify this relationship, we numerically investigated the effect of ice on elastic wave velocities using a digital rock physics approach for regolith with heterogeneous pore geometries. We digitized a lunar regolith simulant and modeled ice distribution in its pore spaces. Numerical simulations employing a finite element method were then performed to calculate the P-wave and S-wave velocities of the regolith simulant while varying the ice particle size and the mass fraction of ice. The results demonstrate that the characteristics of the velocity changes with increases in the mass fraction of ice differ depending on the particle size distribution of the ice. For the same mass fraction of ice, P-wave and S-wave velocities are higher for smaller ice clusters (up to 1.75 times for P-wave velocity and 1.76 times for S-wave velocity). Using the numerical simulation results, we succeeded in developing an empirical equation for estimating the mass fraction of ice from P-wave and S-wave velocities. This equation should be useful for quantifying ice content from lunar seismic survey data.