In recent months there have been published some studies suggest that the Moon’s interior contains more water than scientists thought until nowBut now a new analysis of lunar samples collected during NASA ‘s Apollo missions to the Moon indicates essentially has no water.

A research team led by Zachary Sharp , University of New Mexico ( Albuquerque , USA) , has measured the isotopic composition of chlorine in these lunar volcanic rocks , and found that the range of isotopes of chlorine in the samples was 25 times higher than that found in rocks and minerals of the Earth and in meteorites.

Since chlorine is highly hydrophilic ( attracted to water), is an extremely sensitive indicator of the levels of hydrogen. The team suggests that, if the moon rocks have had initial hydrogen content in a way similar to those of terrestrial rocks , then the fractionation of chlorine in many different isotopes would never have happened on the Moon.

In light of this finding , Sharp and his colleagues suggest that the interior of the Moon is ” anhydrous ” , ie essentially without water , as the scientific community had been proposing for a long time.

The researchers suggest that recent estimates of high levels of hydrogen found in some lunar samples are not typical , and that these samples are probably the product of certain igneous processes that resulted in an extremely volatile enrichment .

The team notes that in any case, do not represent the high and variable chlorine isotopic values found in most lunar rocks.

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Citation :

Z.D. Sharp, C.K. Shearer, K.D. McKeegan , J.D. Barnes and Y.Q. Wang “The Chlorine Isotope Composition of the Moon and Implications for an Anhydrous Mantle, ” Science 329, August 6, 2010 .

Source: SINC