Experimental Modeling of a Micrometeorite Impact on the Moon

Abstract

The shock-explosive processing of rocks by micrometeorite and meteorite bombardment on the surface of the Moon and other airless bodies of the solar system is a dominant geological and geochemical process that produces the loose layer of regolith. The paper presents results of modeling the process of a micrometeorite impact using a millisecond laser. The targets in the experiment were a sample of basalt of composition similar to those of basalts at Moon’s mare areas and a sample of basalt glass obtained by melting this basalt. At the laser “impact”, products ejected from the crater (glass spherules, droplets of various shapes, and condensates) and melting products in the crater were studied by electron microscopy, electron microprobe analysis with energy-dispersive spectrometers, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray fluorescence analysis. It has been shown that the glasses (melt drops) obtained in the experiment with the basalt target are characterized by a heterogeneous distribution of chemical composition. They were mixed in variable proportions as a result of melting the original minerals of the basalt. The spherules that have undergone significant evaporation differentiation in the experiment with a basalt target (crystalline basalt) make up about 25%. When the target was basalt glass, the proportion of the spherules (that have undergone profound evaporative differentiation) was ~90%. The glass was depleted in high- and medium-volatility components (Na2O, K2O, FeO, etc.). The most strongly differentiated glasses corresponded to high-alumina HASP glasses found on the Moon (Al2O3 > 34 wt %, SiO2 < 32 wt %).