UNM, NASA scientists find depletion of halogens due to Giant Impact

Posted: September 30, 2020

Scientists from UNM's Center for Stable Isotopes and Earth & Planetary Sciences graduate student Tony Gargano, in collaboration with scientists from NASA’s Johnson Space Center, recently published Chlorine isotope composition and halogen contents of Apollo-return samples in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). By focusing on chemical analyses of highly reactive elements, researchers found that lunar materials are exceptionally depleted in halogens, with unusually high amounts of the heavy form (stable isotope) of chlorine, which they explain as a result of the Moon-forming Giant Impact.

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