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Carbon content and degassing history of the lunar volcanic glasses

Nature Geoscience volume 8, pages 755–758 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Volcanic glasses observed on the lunar surface have been interpreted as the products of volatile-rich, fire-fountain eruptions. Revised estimates of the water content of primitive lunar magmas have overturned the notion of a volatile-poor Moon1,2,3,4, but degassing of water-rich vapour during volcanic eruptions is inconsistent with geochemical and petrological observations5,6. Although degassing of carbon is compatible with observations, the amount of indigenous carbon in lunar volcanic materials is not well constrained. Here we present high-precision measurements of indigenous carbon contents in primitive lunar volcanic glasses and melt inclusions. From our measurements, in combination with solubility and degassing model calculations, we suggest that carbon degassed before water in lunar magmas, and that the amount of carbon in the lunar lavas was sufficient to trigger fire-fountain eruptions at the lunar surface. We estimate—after correcting for bubble formation in the melt inclusions—that the primitive carbon contents and hydrogen/carbon ratios of lunar magmas fall within the range found in melts from Earth’s depleted upper mantle7. Our findings are also consistent with measurements of hydrogen, fluorine, sulphur and chlorine contents, as well as carbon and hydrogen isotopes, in primitive lunar magmas2,3,4,8,9, suggesting a common origin for the volatile elements in the interiors of the Earth and Moon.

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Figure 1: C–H2O data for the lunar volcanic glass beads and melt inclusions.
Figure 2: C and H2O concentration profiles in individual A-15 yellow glass bead.
Figure 3: Solubility model and CO–H2O gas–melt saturation pressure.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. Wang for careful attention to the health of the Carnegie NanoSIMS. This study was supported by NASA LASER to A.E.S. (NNX08AY97G) and to M.J.R. (NNX11AB27G), by NASA Cosmochemistry to A.E.S. (NNX12AH62G), by the NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) to Brown University (NNA14AB01A) Deep Carbon Observatory and by the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA

    Diane T. Wetzel, Alberto E. Saal & Malcolm J. Rutherford

  2. Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington DC 20015, USA

    Erik H. Hauri

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  1. Diane T. Wetzel
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Contributions

All authors devised the project and interpreted the data. D.T.W. and M.J.R. carried out the experiments. E.H.H. was responsible for data acquisition. D.T.W. performed the computer simulations. D.T.W. and A.E.S. wrote the paper with input from all co-authors.

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Correspondence to Alberto E. Saal.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Wetzel, D., Hauri, E., Saal, A. et al. Carbon content and degassing history of the lunar volcanic glasses. Nature Geosci 8, 755–758 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2511

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