What is the difference between moon rocks and earth rocks

Unlike Earth rocks, the lunar specimens contain no water; the nature of the gas that made the bubbles remains a mystery. The rubble of ages. Collected by Apollo 16 astronauts on the lunar highlands, this light-colored rock or breccia was formed from pieces of many different rocks, shattered, melted, and mixed together by the great meteorite impacts that rocked the Moon during its early years.

Me complex breccias are the key to understanding how the Moon and other planets developed. If I found a few of these in my driveway, I would not give them a second look.

Photo credit: Rob Wesel Here I discuss some aspects of lunar geology, mineralogy, and chemistry that guide us in our attempts to identify lunar material. Material at the lunar surface contains a high proportion of non-crystalline material, but most of this material is glass that formed from melting of rocks containing the four major minerals.

Many other minerals have been identified, but most are rare and occur only as very small grains interstitial to the four major minerals and cannot be seen with the naked eye. Some of the most common minerals at the surface of the Earth are rare or have never been found in lunar samples.

These include quartz, calcite, magnetite, hematite, micas , amphiboles, and most sulfide minerals. Many terrestrial minerals contain water as part of their crystal structure. Micas and amphiboles are common examples.

Hydrous water containing minerals have not been found on the Moon. Some lunar meteorites do, in fact, contain calcite. However, the calcite was formed on Earth from exposure of the meteorite to air and water after it landed.

The calcite occurs as a secondary mineral, one that fills cracks and voids see Dhofar Secondary minerals are easy to recognize when the meteorite is studied with a microscope. Lunar Rocks — Breccias Pieces of Apollo 16 anorthosite sample This particular sample is nearly pure anorthite; there are no dark iron-bearing minerals. Photo credit: Randy Korotev Most of the lunar crust, that part called the Feldspathic Highlands Terrane or simply the feldspathic highlands, consists of rocks that are rich in a particular variety of plagioclase feldspar known as anorthite.

As a consequence, rocks of the lunar crust are said to be anorthositic because they are plagioclase-rich rocks with names like anorthosite, noritic anorthosite, or anorthositic troctolite see table below. The ratio of iron-bearing minerals to plagioclase probably increases with depth in the feldspathic highlands at most places.

For example, rocks exposed in the giant South Pole — Aitken impact basin on the far side are richer in pyroxene than typical feldspathic highlands. The original rocks of this anomalous crust were probably mostly norites and gabbros. The feldspathic crust of the Moon began to form about 4. While it was forming and for some time afterwards, it experienced intense bombardment from meteoroids and asteroids. The rocks of the lunar crust have been repeatedly broken apart by some impacts and glued back together by other impacts.

Breccias occur on Earth, but they are much less common than on the Moon. Also, most terrestrial breccias were not formed by meteoroid impacts but by faulting.

The sample consists of fragments of glass, minerals, and rock cemented together in a glassy matrix. The materials which compose this sample have been determined to be 4. Apollo 17 astronauts discovered an area of orange soil on the rim of Shorty crater, in the Valley of Taurus-Littrow.

A trench was dug to obtain samples of this material. Subsequent study of the orange soil indicates that it was formed during volcanic eruptions 3. Lunar soil contains fragments of the major lunar rock types: basalt A , anorthosite B , and breccia C. In addition, round glass particles D are common. The fragments that make up lunar soil are the products of the ceaseless bombardment of the Moon by meteoroids which smash and grind rocks into soil and weld soil into new rocks. The texture of undisturbed lunar soil can be seen in this close-up photograph, which shows the soil enlarged about 35 times.

This soil is composed of aggregates, clumps of small particles 0. Most lunar glassy materials were created by the shock of meteoroid impacts. However, the green glass particles shown here probably had a different origin. The uniformity of their size and composition suggests that they were formed in lava fountain eruptions.

Orange glass spheres, like the green glass spheres, originated in lava fountains. The glass in the spheres shown here has begun to crystallize into dark, needlelike crystals. Lunar soil consists of particles of many sizes. Source of Lunar Basalt Lunar surface basalts are believed to have their origins in partially melted areas kilometers miles beneath the large meteoroid impact basins.

Near-Side Lunar Basalts. Far-Side Lunar Basalts. Distribution of Basalt Basalt shown in pink is not distributed uniformly over the Moon. Basalt Flows Distinct basalt flows overlap each other near a wrinkle ridge in Mare Imbrium. Apollo 15 Landing Site. Lunar Basalt Surface Sample. Lunar Basalt Sample. Near-Side Lunar Highlands.

Far-Side Lunar Highlands. The Lunar Highlands Regions of both the near side and far side of the Moon not covered by mare basalt are called highlands. Origin of Anorthosite The ancient crust of the Moon is believed to have been composed of the rock, anorthosite, a calcium-rich white rock.

Apollo 16 Landing Site. Lunar Anorthosite Surface Sample. Lunar Anorthosite Sample. Crisium Basin The Crisium basin, about kilometers miles in diameter is one of many large circular lunar depressions. Crater Lambert This crater in Mare Imbrium, 32 kilometers 20 miles in diameter, is surrounded by a blanket of material blasted out by the impact that produced the crater.

Secondary Craters Rocks thrown out during the formation of large impact craters often produce smaller, secondary craters when they fall back to the lunar surface. Zap Pit Tiny impact craters, called "zap pits" are produced by small, high velocity particles and are common on the exposed faces of lunar rocks.