3D and 2D clast analysis of Apollo 17 core sample 73002: insights into the Light Mantle dynamics and regolith reworking.
- 1Natural History Museum , Earth Science, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain – England, Scotland, Wales (giulia.magnarini@nhm.ac.uk)
- 2Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, UK
- 3Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, UK
- 4Jacobs – JETS, Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, USA
- 5NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston TX, USA
- 6Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin Madison, WI, USA
- 7Department of Earth & Planetary Science, Institute of Meteoritics, University of New Mexico, NM, USA
- *A full list of authors appears at the end of the abstract
Several lunar samples collected during the Apollo missions were kept sealed and stored in controlled conditions in order to be studied decades later exploiting future, more advanced capabilities. Two of the preserved samples are Apollo 17 double drive tube 73002/73001. The double drive tube extracted a core sample of the Light Mantle deposit at Station 3 in the Taurus-Littrow Valley (Figure 1). As part of the NASA Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) program, samples 73002 and 73001 became available to study in 2019 and 2022, respectively [1][2]. The Apollo 17 double drive tube sampled the Light Mantle deposit material down to a depth of 70.6 cm; the effective material length of each tube is 21.3 cm for 73002 and 34.9 cm for 73001 (some material was lost during sampling). This represents an unprecedented opportunity to study the Light Mantle deposit to previously unsampled depths.
The Light Mantle deposit represents the only extraterrestrial landslide to have ever been studied in-situ. The Light Mantle is a 5-km-long deposit that formed from debris mobilised from the South Massif, a 2.2-km-high mountain in Taurus-Littrow Valley [3][4]][5]. The origin and hypermobility of the Light Mantle remain debated. The recently opened Apollo 17 double drive tube 73002/73001 provides a new set of samples to investigate the origin and the emplacement mechanisms of the Light Mantle.
Prior to dissection and opening of the sample containers, the double drive tube was scanned using X-ray computed tomography (XCT) [6] so that a digital, high-resolution 3D dataset of the whole core sample is available and represents one of the ‘next generation’ capabilities now available to researchers to interrogate the data using novel approaches and obtain new insights into lunar material and processes. Additionally, the 3D dataset preserves the 3D context of all the subsamples extracted from the original core sample.
In this work, we used high-resolution X-ray computed tomography (XCT) scans and high-resolution scans of thin sections of the upper 20 cm of the core, sample 73002, and conduct 3D clast-size analysis and investigation of clast morphological fabric. The aims of this work are to:
- Present a 3D data processing workflow that can be used as a basis for future investigations of lunar core samples.
- Demonstrate potential scientific information that can be extracted from 3D analysis of lunar core samples.
Within this framework, we conduct: (1) 3D grain size analysis and compare the results with grain size analyses conducted on the grains extracted during the dissection of the core sample; (2) 3D analysis of clast size distribution. Additionally, as part of our investigation of the emplacement mechanism of the Light Mantle, we use 2D continuous thin sections (backscattered electron maps) of sample 73002 to search for diagnostic clast fabric similar to those generated during the friction experiments conducted in simulated lunar landslides [7]. The clast fabric is called Clast Cortex Aggregate (CCA) and it’s constituted by a central clast surrounded by nano-scale fine material (Figure 2).
The data analysis and visualization of the XCT dataset of core sample 73002 were performed using 3D visualization software Avizo 2022.2 by ThermoFisher. We customized our workflow and established a best-practice protocol so that they can be used as reference for future analysis of 73001. We used backscattered electron (BSE) maps of the sample’s thin sections (73002,6011; 73002,6012; 73002,6013; 73002,6014) [8] to search for (CCAs).
The results of clast-size distribution show that the sample is characterised by lack of the largest clast-size fraction in the top 4-5 cm, which we attribute to the fragmentation of larger regolith-hosted clasts and bedrock by space weathering and meteoroid bombardment. The observation of an uppermost layer presenting characteristics of reworked regolith is consistent with results from previous studies of lunar regolith and from other works conducted on 73002 as part of the ANGSA program [8][9]. Moreover, we found extensive presence of CCAs. The formation of CCAs in natural and lab-simulated landslides is attributed to granular flow dynamics, presence of nanoparticles, and adhering forces between such particles. Therefore, we concluded that the presence of CCAs in sample 73002 represents the first evidence that the Light Mantle was emplaced as a granular flow. This work shows that valuable information can be extracted from the 3D analysis of lunar core samples and, more generally, it shows the potential of morphometric and morphological clast analysis using high resolution XCT dataset and thin sections combined.
Our work represents the first study to conduct a 3D clast analysis of a lunar regolith core sample. As such, it constitutes an important step in showing the novel information that can be extracted, and presenting a potential workflow for studying lunar regolith core samples that will be collected during future missions to the Moon.
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Figure 1 – a) Oblique view of Taurus-Littrow Valley; the yellow dot shows the location of the Apollo 17 landing site (LROC/NAC image M1266925685L. Image credit: NASA/GSFC/ASU); b) A frame from the original footage recorded from the Lunar Rover Vehicle onboard camera the showing astronaut Gene Cernan extracting the double drive tube containing material from the Light Mantle deposit. c) Double drive tube in the ground prior extraction (AS17-137-20981. Image credit: NASA). The yellow star in the three panel shows the location where the double drive tube core sample 73002/73001 was collected.
Figure 2 – Comparison of Clast Cortex Aggregates (CCAs). (a-b) CCAs generated during the friction experiments conducted on anorthosite-bearing gouges by [7]; (c-f) CCAs found in the Apollo 17 core sample 73002. The red dotted lines and the white dotted line in (d) show the corona of finer fragments found around clasts.
Caitlin Ahrens NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Caitlin.ahrens@nasa.gov Judith Allton NASA Johnson Space Center Judith.h.allton@nasa.gov Cecilia Amick NASA Johnson Space Center cecilia.l.amick@nasa.gov Mahesh Anand Open University mahesh.anand@open.ac.uk Benoit Andre European Space Agency Benoit.andre@esa.int Jose Aponte NASA Goddard Space Flight Center jose.c.aponte@nasa.gov Matteo Appolloni European Space Agency Matteo.appolloni@esa.int Nathan Bamsey European Space Agency Nathan.bamsey@esa.int Jessica Barnes University of Arizona jjbarnes@lpl.arizona.edu Samantha Bell University of Manchester samantha.bell@manchester.ac.uk Riccardo Biella European Space Agency Riccardo.biella@esa.int Lars Borg Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory borg5@llnl.gov Jeremy Boyce NASA Johnson Space Center jeremy.w.boyce@nasa.gov John Bradley University of Hawaii johnbrad@hawaii.edu Alex Bradley Washington University St. Louis abradley@eps.wustl.edu Adrian Brearley University of New Mexico brearley@unm.edu Maryjo Brounce University of California Riverside mbrounce@ucr.edu Emma Bullock Carnegie Earth and Planets Laboratory ebullock@carnegiescience.edu Kate Burgess Naval Research Laboratory kate.burgess@nrl.navy.mil Yuriy Butenko European Space Agency Yuriy.butenko@esa.int Marc Caffee Purdue University mcaffee@purdue.edu Erick Cano University of New Mexico ejcano@unm.edu James Carpenter European Space Agency james.carpenter@esa.int Paul Carpenter Washington University St. Louis Paulc@levee.wustl.edu Gianluca Casarosa European Space Agency Gianluca.casarosa@esa.int William Cassata Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory cassata2@llnl.gov Michael Cato University of New Mexico mcato@unm.edu Simon Clemett NASA Johnson Space Center simon.j.clemett@nasa.gov Barbara Cohen NASA Goddard Space Flight Center barbara.a.cohen@nasa.gov Roberto Colina-Ruiz SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory rcolina@stanford.edu Catherine Corrigan National Museum of Natural History corriganc@si.edu Aidan Cowley European Space Agency aidan.cowley@esa.int Cyrille Crespi European Space Agency Cyrille.crespi@esa.int Roy Cristofferson NASA Johnson Space Center roy.christoffersen-1@nasa.gov Carolyn Crow University of Colorado Boulder carolyn.crow@colorado.edu Natalie Currant NASA Goddard Space Flight Center natalie.m.curran@nasa.gov Brittany Cymes Naval Research Laboratory brittany.cymes.ctr@nrl.navy.mil Paul deMediros European Space Agency Paul.demediros@esa.int James Dottin Carnegie Earth & Planets Laboratory jdottin@terpmail.umd.edu Catherine Dukes University of Virginia cdukes@virginia.edu Jason Dworkin NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Jason.p.dworkin@nasa.gov Darby Dyar` Mount Holyoke College/PSI mdyar@mtholyoke.edu Scott Eckley NASA Johnson Space Center scott.a.eckley@nasa.gov David Edey University of Texas, Austin dave.edey@utexas.edu James Elsila NASA Goddard Space Flight Center jamie.e.cook@nasa.gov Timmons Erickson NASA Johnson Space Center Timmons.m.erickson@nasa.gov Chiara Ferrari-Wong University of Hawaii cfw@hawaii.edu Abbey Flom University of Hawaii aflom@hawaii.edu Kate Freeman Penn State University khf4@psu.edu Amy Gaffney Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory gaffney1@llnl.gov Anthony Gargano University of New Mexico agargano@unm.edu Jeffrey Gillis-Davis Washington University St. Louis j.gillis-davis@wustl.edu Daniel Glavin NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Daniel.p.glavin@nasa.gov Peter Grindrod Natural History Museum London p.grindrod@nhm.ac.uk Juliane Gross NASA Johnson Space Center juliane.gross@nasa.gov Timothy Hahn NASA Johnson Space Center timothy.m.hahn@nasa.gov Romy Hanna University of Texas, Austin romy@jsg.utexas.edu Hope Ishii University of Hawaii ishii3@hawaii.edu Bradley Jolliff Washington University St. Louis bjolliff@wustl.edu Rhian Jones University of Manchester rhian.jones-2@manchester.ac.uk Katherine Joy University of Manchester Katherine.joy@manchester.ac.uk Lindsay Keller NASA Johnson Space Center lindsay.p.keller@nasa.gov Jeremy Kent NASA Johnson Space Center jeremy.j.kent@nasa.gov Richard Ketcham University of Texas, Austin ketcham@jsg.utexas.edu Grant Killian University of Virginia Gk3uk@virginia.edu Randy Korotev Washington University St. Louis korotev@wustl.edu Thomas Kroll SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory tkroll@slac.stanford.edu Thomas Kruijer Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory kruijer1@llnl.gov Charis Krysher NASA Johnson Space Center charis.h.krysher@nasa.gov Antonio Lanzirotti University of Chicago lanzirotti@uchicago.edu Ernest Lewis NASA Johnson Space Center ernest.k.lewis@nasa.gov Robert Linder European Space Agency Robert.lindner@esa.int Gordon Love University of California Riverside glove@ucr.edu Paul Lucy University of Hawaii lucey@higp.hawaii.edu Giulia Magnarini University College London Giulia.magnarini.14@ucl.ac.uk Advenit Makaya European Space Agency Advenit.makaya@esa.int Dayl Martin European Space Agency dayl.martin@esa.int Matthias Maurer European Space Agency Matthias.Maurer@esa.int Jillian Maxson University of Virginia jtm8hqg@virginia.edu Molly McCanta University of Tennessee, Knoxville mmccanta@utk.edu Francis McCubbin NASA Johnson Space Center francis.m.mccubbin@nasa.gov Francesca McDonald European Space Agency Francesca.mcdonald@esa.int James McFadden Purdue University mcfadde8@purdue.edu Alex Meshik Washington University St. Louis ameshik@physics.wustl.edu Alexandre Meurisse European Space Agency Alexandre.Meurisse@esa.int Grace Minesinger University of Virginia gmm9uf@virginia.edu Angelina Minocha Washington University St. Louis angelinam@wustl.edu Thomas Mitchell University College London tom.mitchell@ucl.ac.uk Julie Mitchell NASA Johnson Space Center julie.l.mitchell@nasa.gov Dan Moriarty NASA Goddard Space Flight Center daniel.p.moriarty@nasa.gov Richard Morris NASA Johnson Space Center richard.v.morris@nasa.gov Jed Mosenfelder University of Minnesota jmosenfe@umn.edu Andrea Mosie NASA Johnson Space Center andrea.b.mosie@nasa.gov Clive Neal University of Notre Dame cneal@nd.edu Mason Neuman Washington University St. Louis mdneuman@wustl.edu Kunihiko Nishizumi University of California Berkeley kuni@berkeley.edu Evan O’Neal NASA Johnson Space Center evan.w.o’neal@nasa.gov Ryan Ogliore Washington University St. Louis rogliore@wustl.edu Iunn Jenn Ong University of Arizona oij4869@email.arizona.edu Jessica Oraegbu University of Virginia mfg9rv@virginia.edu James Papike University of New Mexico jpapike@unm.edu Rita Parai Washington University St. Louis parai@wustl.edu Noah Petro NASA Goddard Space Flight Center noah.e.petro@nasa.gov Sean Pomeroy University of Colorado Boulder Sean.Pomeroy@colorado.edu Olga Pravdivtseva Washington University St. Louis olga@wustl.edu Tabb Prissel NASA Johnson Space Center tabb.c.prissel@nasa.gov Julian Rodriguez Washington University St. Louis smrodriguez@wustl.edu Thomas Rohr European Space Agency Thomas.rohr@esa.int Timon Schild European Space Agency Timon.schild@esa.int Harrison Schmitt Harrison Schmitt Consulting hhschmitt@earthlink.net Derek Sears NASA AMES Research Center derekwgsears@gmail.com Alexander Sehlke NASA AMES Research Center alexander.sehlke@nasa.gov Zachary Sharp University of New Mexico zsharp@unm.edu Charles Shearer University of New Mexico cshearer@unm.edu Danielle Simkus NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Danielle.n.simkus@nasa.gov Justin Simon NASA Johnson Space Center justin.i.simon@nasa.gov Steven Simon University of New Mexico bs8@unm.edu Corliss Kio Sio Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory sio2@llnl.gov Elizabeth Sklute Planetary Science Institute ecsklute@psi.edu Dimosthenis Sokaras SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory dsokaras@slac.stanford.edu Kamil Stelmach University of Virginia kbs7dqw@virginia.edu Rhonda Stroud Naval Research Laboratory stroud@nrl.navy.mil Lingzhi Sun University of Hawaii lzsun@higp.hawaii.edu Stephen Sutton University of Chicago sutton@cars.uchicago.edu Romain Tartèse University of Manchester romain.tartese@manchester.ac.uk Fiona Thiessen European Space Agency Fiona.thiessen@esa.int Kathie Thomas-Keprta NASA Johnson Space Center kathie.thomas-keprta-1@nasa.gov Michelle Thompson Purdue University thomp655@purdue.edu Zhen Tian Washington University St. Louis t.zhen@wustl.edu Eoin Tuohy European Space Agency Eoin.tuohy@esa.int Sarah Valencia University of Maryland sarah.n.valencia@nasa.gov Jessika Valenciano University of Notre Dame Jvalenc2@nd.edu Richard Walker University of Maryland rjwalker@umd.edu Richard Walroth SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory rwalroth@stanford.edu Kun Wang Washington University St. Louis wangkun@wustl.edu Stu Webb University of Notre Dame gwebb1@nd.edu Kees Welten University of California Berkeley kcwelten@berkeley.edu Zoë Wilbur University of Arizona zewilbur@email.arizona.edu Patrizia Will Washington University St. Louis Patrizia.will@wustl.edu Josh Wimpenny Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory wimpenny1@llnl.gov Adam Woodson University of Virginia akw8r@virginia.edu Chris Yen Washington University St. Louis yence@wustl.edu Tom Zega University of Arizona tzega@lpl.arizona.edu Ryan Ziegler NASA Johnson Space Center ryan.a.zeigler@nasa.gov Linda Ziamanesh University of Virginia lsz9tp@virginia.edu Karen Ziegler University of New Mexico kziegler@unm.edu
How to cite: Magnarini, G., Mitchell, T. M., Grindrod, P. M., Bell, S. K., Joy, K. H., Eckley, S. A., Zeigler, R. A., Schmitt, H. H., and Shearer, C. and the ANGSA Science Team: 3D and 2D clast analysis of Apollo 17 core sample 73002: insights into the Light Mantle dynamics and regolith reworking., Europlanet Science Congress 2024, Berlin, Germany, 8–13 Sep 2024, EPSC2024-329, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2024-329, 2024.
