Carbon monoxide gas fueled fire fountains on moon

The crystals trap gases present in the magma before they can escape.

The moon was once home to spectacular “fire fountains“, similar to those seen in Hawaii today. This CO gas was responsible for the fire fountains that sprayed volcanic glass over parts of the lunar surface. The part that’s new-confirming that this activity was driven by carbon monoxide gas-gives astronomers new insight into how the moon formed. He continues, “The gas is gone, so it hasn’t been easy to figure out”.

However, this new analysis of the lunar volcanic glass beads reveals that there are concentrations of carbon and water that gradually decreased in the core of the beads that suggest a degassing event, according to researcher Alberto Saal of Brown University. When it combined with oxygen, fire fountains exploded and tiny beads of volcanic glass scattered all over the lunar surface.

During NASA’s Apollo missions between the years 1969 to 1972, which landed a total of 12 astronauts on the Moon, several samples of volcanic glass, i.e. the product of rapidly cooling magma, were recovered from the orb’s surface. Having found traces of carbon in the Apollo volcanic glass samples, researchers are now quite convinced it was carbon monoxide. “With a little bit of water, with a little bit of sulfur – but the main driver is carbon”.

The study strongly hints at the moon’s makeup being very similar to that of the early Earth, he says, with less difference between the volatile elements here on Earth and those on the moon than scientists had previously believed.

The leading theory is that Earth was hit by a Mars-sized object early in its history and that the debris eventually melded together to form the moon. The volatile compounds turn into a gas and cause to blast lava into the air when it reaches the surface – just like a shaken bottle of soda.

Scaillet discusses his findings in an article published in this week’s issue of Nature Geoscience. Carbon found in lunar samples suggests that the moon’s surface composition was very similar to Earth’s.

“This breakthrough depended on the ability of Carnegie’s NanoSIMS ion probe to measure incredibly low levels of carbon, on objects that are the diameter of a human hair”, said Hauri.

‘It is really a remarkable achievement both scientifically and technically’.

Follow-up analysis using computer models show that fire fountains were ignited through carbon monoxide, science website Discovery reported Tuesday.

Earth and its large satellite also have similar concentrations of hydrogen isotopes, water, and other volatiles.

A team of researchers identified a volatile gas that is believed to have triggered violent fiery explosions on the moon, Brown University reported.

“Most of the carbon would have degassed deep under the surface”. The model had always been used for Earth.

Current evidence indicates some volatiles may have survived the initial impact and ended up on both the Earth and Moon.