....Thus, it is possible that an impact could cause the catastrophic release of CO2 and H2O at Ina. The resulting explosion would release pressure on adjacent zones causing a cascading chain reaction that could explain the characteristic humpy morphology of meniscus hollows.
Quote from: Warren Platts on 07/25/2013 10:13 pm....Thus, it is possible that an impact could cause the catastrophic release of CO2 and H2O at Ina. The resulting explosion would release pressure on adjacent zones causing a cascading chain reaction that could explain the characteristic humpy morphology of meniscus hollows. Sounds reasonable to me!Do you think there would still be minable H2O/CO2 at or near Ina?
Here's a thought: would fracking work on the Moon? Perhaps a seriously small nuke at the bottom of a deep hole would shake and bake some water vapour out of the interstices of the megaregolith...
We see the traces of tremendous sublunarian disturbances (using the word "sublunarian," here and elsewhere, to correspond to the word "subterranean" used with reference to the earth), and we find some features of resemblance between the effects of such disturbances and those produced by the subterranean forces of our earth;
Here we analyse spectroscopic data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) and report that the central peak of Bullialdus Crater is significantly enhanced in hydroxyl relative to its surroundings. We suggest that the strong and localized hydroxyl absorption features are inconsistent with a surficial origin. Instead, they are consistent with hydroxyl bound to magmatic minerals that were excavated from depth by the impact that formed Bullialdus Crater. Furthermore, estimates of thorium concentration in the central peak using data from the Lunar Prospector orbiter indicate an enhancement in incompatible elements, in contrast to the compositions of water-bearing lunar samples2. We suggest that the hydroxyl-bearing material was excavated from a magmatic source that is distinct from that of samples analysed thus far.
Evidence of serpentinization of olivine:http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v6/n9/full/ngeo1909.htmlQuote Here we analyse spectroscopic data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) and report that the central peak of Bullialdus Crater is significantly enhanced in hydroxyl relative to its surroundings. ...This is very exciting news.
Here we analyse spectroscopic data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) and report that the central peak of Bullialdus Crater is significantly enhanced in hydroxyl relative to its surroundings. ...
In case anyone's interested, here's a copy of the paper I presented at the GS workshop. My approach was to use the debris halo that surrounds Ina to constrain the energetics of whatever phenomenon produced it. It turns out that a CO2-liquid water system has just about the right energy to make it happen: not too violent, not too mild. I can't think of any other phenomenon that could do it. Maybe you can?