Open AccessOn the possibility of clathrate hydrates on the Moon
Author(s) -
Duxbury N. S.,
Nealson K. H.,
Romanovsky V. E.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: planets
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2000je001425
Subject(s) - clathrate hydrate , astrobiology , impact crater , water ice , geology , regolith , lunar craters , moon landing , geophysics , earth science , hydrate , physics , apollo , chemistry , zoology , organic chemistry , biology
One of the most important inferences of the Lunar Prospector mission data was the existence of subsurface water ice in the permanently shadowed craters near both lunar poles [ Feldman et al. , 1998]. We propose and substantiate an alternative explanation that hydrogen can exist in the shallow lunar subsurface in the form of clathrate hydrates: CH 4 · 6H 2 O and/or CO 2 · 6H 2 O.