Apollo mission tagged posts

Melt inclusions are tiny dots of magma frozen within olivine crystals. The crystals lock in volatile elements that may have otherwise escaped from the magma. Researchers have shown that melt inclusions within volcanic glasses from the Moon contain carbon. They conclude that gas-phase carbon likely drive the “fire fountain” eruptions the produced the glass. Credit: Saal Lab / Brow University

Scientists have found traces of carbon in volcanic glass collected from the Apollo missions to the Moon. The finding may not only explain the driving force behind ancient ‘fire fountain’ eruptions on the Moon but also suggest that some volatile elements on the Moon and Earth have a common origin.

Fire fountains, a type of eruption that occurs frequently in Hawaii, require the presence of volatiles mixed...