1

The Lunar Regolith

Sarah Noble
[email protected]

Introduction
A thick layer of regolith, fragmental and unconsolidated rock material, covers the entire
lunar surface. This layer is the result of the continuous impact of meteoroids large and small and
the steady bombardment of charged particles from the sun and stars. The regolith is generally
about 4-5 m thick in mare regions and 10-15 m in highland areas (McKay et al., 1991) and
contains all sizes of material from large boulders to sub-micron dust particles. Below the regolith
is a region of large blocks of material, large-scale ejecta and brecciated bedrock, often referred to
as the “megaregolith”. Lunar soil is a term often used interchangeably with regolith, however,
soil is defined as the subcentimeter fraction of the regolith (in practice though, soil generally
refers to the submillimeter fraction of the regolith). Lunar dust has been defined in many ways
by different researchers, but generally refers to only the very finest fractions of the soil, less than
~10 or 20 microns.
Lunar soil can be a misleading term, as lunar “soil” bears little in common with terrestrial
soils. Lunar soil contains no organic matter and is not formed through biologic or chemical
means as terrestrial soils are, but strictly through mechanical comminution from meteoroids and
interaction with the solar wind and other energetic particles. Lunar soils are also not exposed to
the wind and water that shapes the Earth. As a consequence, in contrast to terrestrial soils, lunar
soils are not sorted in any way, by size, shape, or chemistry. Finally, without wind and water to
wear down the edges, lunar soil grains tend to be sharp with fresh fractured surfaces.

The Components of Lunar Regolith

Lunar regolith is made up of rock chips, mineral fragments, impact and volcanic glasses and a
peculiar component only found on the Moon called “agglutinates” (Figure 1). The ratio of these
various components varies widely from one soil to the next (Figure 2).

Figure 1. Photograph of a large size fraction of a lunar soil showing the various components that
constitute a typical soil (image courtesy Larry Taylor, Univ of TN Knoxville)
 2

Figure 2. A bar graph of the modal (volume) abundances of various components of several lunar
soils from Apollo and Luna missions (Simon et al., 1981).

Agglutinates, aggregates of mineral fragments held together with glass, are a major
component of lunar soils, composing up to 60 or 70% of some soils. They are formed when a
micrometeorite impact melts a small amount of soil. Several optical, SEM, and TEM images of
agglutinates are shown in Figure 3. As can be seen from the images, agglutinates come in a wide
range of sizes, from millimeters to sub-micron in diameter. Agglutinitic glass is vesicular (holey)
and is full of tiny blebs of metallic iron (Figure 3c).
 3

Figure 3. Several images of agglutinates. A) A photo of large agglutinates showing their complex
shape (McKay et al., 1991). B) Scanning electron microscope (SEM) backscatter images of
agglutinates showing their vesicular nature. C) Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images
of cross sections through agglutinates showing vesicles (white spots) and nanophase iron (black
spots).
 4

Spherules are also a common component of lunar soils. These typically spherical (hence the
name) droplets of glass can be formed volcanically, during “fire fountaining” when lava is thrown
up and cools before it hits the ground; the Ap 17 orange glass beads and the Ap15 green glass
beads are examples of this process. More commonly though, spherules are formed in impact,
when melt is thrown up and cools before it falls back to the ground. Like agglutinates, impact
spherules are found in a large array of sizes from sub-micron to several hundred microns
(volcanic beads come in a narrower size range, averaging about 40 microns). Both agglutinates
and impact spherules come in a wide array of compositions as well, dependent in large part on
what material was melted to form them.

Figure 4. Several SEM backscatter images of spherules.

Larger size fractions of lunar soils commonly contain rock chips, or lithic components
(Figures 1 and 2), with multiple minerals within a single grain. These are less common in finer
size fractions where they have been largely broken down into their individual mineral
components.
Nearly all exposed surfaces on the Moon, rocks, pebbles, soil grains, are covered in material
from elsewhere: splashes of glass from nearby impacts, very small grains which cling
electrostatically or are “glued” on with glass. In Figure 5 are SEM images of two examples of
typical surfaces.

Figure 5. SEM images of the surface of a rock (left) (Wentworth et al, 1999) and a soil grain
(right). Glass splashes and “pancakes” are common, as are submicron grains clinging to the
surface. Micrometeorite craters can also be seen in both images.
 5

Grain Sizes
The mean grain size of typical lunar soils ranges from 40-800 µm with most falling between
45-100 µm (McKay et al., 1991). In terrestrial terms, most lunar regolith samples would
correspond to pebble- or cobble-bearing silty sands, however, it is difficult, and probably
dangerous, to apply such terrestrial terminology to lunar soils because their formation
mechanisms are so different. Figure 5 is a cumulative size frequency plot for some typical soil
samples. As a general rule of thumb, about 10% of lunar soil is greater than 1 mm, about 50% is
greater than 100 µm, and about 90% is great than 10 µm. The very finest fractions of the soil (<2
µm) are extremely difficult to measure because those smaller grains tend to stick to larger grains
(Figure 6), as well as to the sides of containers.

Figure 6. Cumulative size-frequency diagram for typical soils (McKay et al, 1991).

Lunar soil evolves over time as it is exposed to the harsh environment of space. Continuous
impacts result in finer grain sizes as a soil “matures” (Figure 7). However, the destructional
process of comminution is balanced by the constructional process of agglutinate formation,
allowing mature soils to eventually reach a steady state (McKay et al., 1974).

Figure 7. Grain size histograms of an immature soil (A), a submature soil (B), and a mature soil
(C) (McKay et al, 1974).
 6

Space Weathering
“Space weathering” is a blanket term used for a number of processes that act on any body
exposed to the harsh space environment. Lunar soils incur galactic and solar cosmic rays;
irradiation, implantation and sputtering from solar wind particles; as well as bombardment by all
sizes of meteorites (Figure 8).

Figure 8. Cartoon showing the various components of space weathering.

Cosmic rays, high energy electrons, positrons, and other subatomic particles traveling at near
light speed, leave behind tracks in soil grains. These tracks are sometimes used by scientists as a
crude estimate of how old a grain is, i.e. the older the grain, the more tracks it has accumulated.
Moderate shock and/or heating (to ~650-850°C - Fraundorf et al, 1980) can anneal, or erase, these
tracks. Tracks are identified in a grain of Apollo 11 soil (10084) in Figure 9.

Figure 9. A TEM image of a lunar grain with tracks left behind by galactic and solar cosmic rays
(in TEM images, tracks appear as criss-crossing lines of various lengths).
 7

Solar wind, the plasma of charged particles flowing from the Sun, can irradiate the outer
~50-100 nm of a grain, causing the mineral to breakdown to an amorphous state, like the
irradiated rim in Figure 10. Solar wind particles, largely composed of hydrogen and helium, but
also heavier elements, can become imbedded in the soil particles. The time scale for saturation
with hydrogen is on the order of 100 Kyrs. Solar wind ions can also knock individual atoms out
of place in a process called “sputtering.” Those atoms will either be lost to space or re-deposited
on nearby grains.

Figure 10. Plagioclase grain with an irradiated rim. Such rims retain the chemical heritage of
their host grain, but the crystal structure has been destroyed.

On the Earth, we have meteorites which impact on a regular basis, but smaller particles burn
up in the atmosphere (shooting stars). On the Moon, everything impacts, down to the smallest
micro and nanometer particles. When these micrometeorites impact, they melt and vaporize
small amounts of material that can then be re-deposited on nearby grains.
Both sputtering and the melting and vaporization associated with micrometeorite
bombardment create nanophase iron (npFe0), also sometimes called submicroscopic-iron
(SMFe), nanometer-scale blebs of metallic iron embedded in a glass matrix. In lunar soils, npFe0
is found in two places, throughout agglutinitic glass, glass created from the melting of soil in
micrometeorite impacts, and in vapor/sputter deposited rims on individual soil grains, npFe0-
bearing rims.
The ubiquitous iron particles in agglutinates come in a wide range of sizes from a few
nanometers up to several hundred nanometers (James et al., 2002). They are thought to be
created when hydrogen-saturated soil is melted, causing a reduction reaction where the FeO in the
minerals is reduced to Fe0+OH or Fe0+H20. A study using energy election-loss spectroscopy
(EELS) found that in the majority of analyzed agglutinitic glass grains, Fe2+ had not been
completely reduced to iron metal during space weathering (Keller and Clement, 2001).
NpFe0-bearing rims were first identified in the transmission election microscope (TEM) by
Keller and McKay (1993), who followed up with a study which classifies the different types of
rims observed to date (Keller and McKay, 1999); also see Wentworth et al. (1999) who studied
 8

coatings on rocks, rather than individual grains, for some detailed scanning election microscope
(SEM) images. Several examples of npFe0-bearing rims can be found in Figure 11. Unlike the
agglutinates, it appears that hydrogen isn’t necessary to reduce the Fe here; the temperatures
reached in vaporization are so high that the Fe0 will separate without the presence of a reducing
agent. Soil rims are quite common in mature lunar soils, with up to 90% of grains bearing rims
(Keller et al., 2000). The size of iron blebs in npFe0-bearing rims is, on average, considerably
smaller than is found in agglutinates and confined to a much narrower size range. Averaging
about 3 nm in diameter, they range from roughly 1 to 15 nm in rims (Keller and Clement, 2001),
compared to the tens to hundreds of nm diameter of grains found in agglutinates. By volume, the
majority of the metallic iron in lunar soils can be found in the agglutinates; however, because the
iron in the rims is surface correlated, it can often have a bigger impact on the physical and optical
properties than the volume correlated iron in the agglutinates.

Figure 11. Several TEM images of nanophase iron-bearing rims on lunar soil grains (images a
and c courtesy Lindsay Keller, NASA JSC).

Maturity
The concept of maturity, how long a grain has been exposed at the surface, is important to
understanding lunar soils. The maturity of any given sample can be defined in several ways (e.g.
the percentage of agglutinates, the density of cosmic ray tracks, etc), but in recent years, the
standard definition has become its Is/FeO value (Morris, 1978). Is is the measure of the intensity
of ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) resulting from the presence of iron particles in the 4 to 33 nm
range. It is then typically normalized by the iron content (FeO) of a soil, since soils that have
more iron available to reduce are going to create npFe0 more quickly (i.e. it is easier for a mare
soil to produce nanophase iron than for a highland soil). An Is/FeO value of less than 30 is
considered immature. This roughly corresponds to soils that are composed of 5-20%
agglutinates. An Is/FeO of 30-60 is considered submature, these tend to contain ~15-50%
agglutinates. Anything with an Is/FeO over 60 is considered mature. Mature soils are often
composed of 40-60% agglutinates. Figure 12 plots several maturity indices vs Is/FeO for a
variety of lunar soils.
 9

Figure 12. Nanophase iron content (Is/FeO) versus several other maturity indices; (a) mean grain
size, (b) agglutinate content, (c) and (d) solar wind components (McKay et al., 1991).

The finest fractions of lunar soil contain more nanophase iron than the larger fractions, i.e. it
appears more mature (Figure 13). There are two reasons for this: first, finer grains have a higher
ratio of rim material to grain material (surface to volume), and since the iron is concentrated in
the rims, nanophase iron increases in the finest fractions, secondly, nanophase iron-rich
agglutinitic glass is fragile and tends to break down into small grain sizes more quickly than
many of the other lunar minerals, again resulting in an enrichment in the finest fractions.

Figure 13. Is/FeO for the 20-45, 10-20, and <10 µm grain size fractions of several lunar soils
(adapted from Taylor et al, 2000).

In addition to being enriched in agglutinitic glass compared to larger size fractions, the finest
fractions of lunar soil are also enriched in plagioclase. This is because the mineral plagioclase,
like the glass, breaks down easier than the other common lunar minerals (e.g. pyroxene, olivine,
ilmenite, and cristobalite) (Hörz and Cintala, 1997).
 10

The so-called “F3” model – fusion of the finest fraction (Papike et al., 1981) posits that
agglutinates are largely formed by the melting of the finest fraction of soil because of the higher
surface to volume ratios of those grains. Since the finest fractions are enriched in glass and
plagioclase, the average chemical composition of agglutinitic glass is skewed away from the bulk
composition toward the composition of the less than 10 µm fraction.

References
Fraundorf P., Flynn G. J., Shirck J. and Walker R. M. (1980) Interplanetary dust collected in the
earth’s stratosphere: The question of solar flare tracks. Proceedings, 11th Lunar and Planetary
Science Conference, pp. 1235-1249.
Horz F. and Cintala M (1997) Impact experiments related to the evolution of planetary regoliths.
Meteoritics and Planetary Science 32:179-209.
James C., Letsinger S., Basu A., Wentworth S. J., and McKay D. S. (2002) Size distribution of
Fe0 globules in lunar agglutinitic glass (abstract #1827). 33nd Lunar and Planetary Science
Conference. CD-ROM.
Keller L. P and Clemett S. J. (2001) Formation of nanophase iron in the lunar regolith (abstract
#2097). 32nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. CD-ROM.
Keller L. P and McKay D. S. (1993) Discovery of vapor deposits in the lunar regolith. Science,
261(5126):1305-1307.
Keller L. P and McKay D. S. (1997) The nature and origin of rims on lunar soil grains.
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 61:2331-2341.
Keller L. P., Wentworth S. J., McKay D. S., Taylor L. A., Pieters C. M. and Morris R. V (2000)
Space weathering in the fine size fractions of lunar soil: Mare/highland differences (abstract
#1655). 31st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. CD-ROM.
McKay D. S., Fruland R. M., Heiken G. H. (1974) Grain size and the evolution of lunar soils.
Proceedings, 5th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, pp. 887-906.
McKay et al. (1991) The Lunar Regolith, in The Lunar Sourcebook, Heiken G. H, Vaniman D. T.
and French B. M., eds. Cambridge University Press, New York NY, pp. 285-356
Morris R. V. (1978) The surface exposure (maturity) of lunar soils; some concepts and Is/FeO
compilation. Proceedings, 9th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, pp. 2287-2297.
Papike J. J., Simon S. B., White C., and Laul J. C. (1981) The relationship of the lunar regolith
<10 µm fraction and agglutinates. Part I: A model for agglutinate formation and some
indirect supportive evidence.
Simon et al (1981) The lunar regolith: Comparative studies of the Apollo and Luna sites
Petrology of soils from Apollo 17, Luna 16, 20 and 24. Proceedings, 12th Lunar and
Planetary Science Conference, pp. 371-388.
Taylor, L. A., A Patchen, D. S. Taylor, R. V. Morris, C. M. Pieters, S. J. Wentworth, L. P. Keller
and D. S. McKay (2000a) Mineralogical Characterization of Lunar Mare Soils. LPSCXXXI,
ab#1706. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston TX (CD-ROM).
Taylor, L. A., R. V. Morris, C. M. Pieters, A. Pachen, L. P. Keller, D. Taylor, S. J. Wentworth
and D. S. McKay (2000b) Chemical Characterization of Lunar Mare Soils. LPSCXXXI,
ab#1697. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston TX (CD-ROM).
Wentworth S. J., Keller L. P., McKay D. S., and Morris R. V. (1999) Space weathering on the
Moon: patina on Apollo 17 samples 75075 and 76015. Meteoritics and Planetary Science
34:593-603.