Water on The Moon, III. Volatiles & Activity

TL;DR

This paper reviews evidence of lunar activity and volatiles, discussing outgassing, surface changes, and the presence of water and gases, challenging the notion of the Moon as a completely inactive body.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of lunar volatiles, outgassing phenomena, and recent findings on water and gases, highlighting new insights into lunar activity.

Findings

Detection of water and other volatiles from LCROSS impact

Historical outgassing of water, hydrogen, and sulfur from the Moon

Discussion of surface and interior activity evidence

Abstract

For centuries some scientists have argued that there is activity on the Moon (or water, as recounted in Parts I & II), while others have thought the Moon is simply a dead, inactive world. The question comes in several forms: is there a detectable atmosphere? Does the surface of the Moon change? What causes interior seismic activity? From a more modern viewpoint, we now know that as much carbon monoxide as water was excavated during the LCROSS impact, as detailed in Part I, and a comparable amount of other volatiles were found. At one time the Moon outgassed prodigious amounts of water and hydrogen in volcanic fire fountains, but released similar amounts of volatile sulfur (or SO2), and presumably large amounts of carbon dioxide or monoxide, if theory is to be believed. So water on the Moon is associated with other gases. We review what is known (and touch on what is unknown) about outgassing of various gases from the Moon.