The Moon as a recorder of organic evolution in the early solar system: a lunar regolith analog study.
The Moon as a recorder of organic evolution in the early solar system: a lunar regolith analog study.
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DOI：
10.1089/ast.2014.1217
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发表时间：
2015-02
期刊：
影响因子：
4.2
通讯作者：
R. Matthewman;R. Court;I. Crawford;A. Jones;K. Joy;M. Sephton
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
R. Matthewman;R. Court;I. Crawford;A. Jones;K. Joy;M. Sephton
地球的有机记录超过1.38亿年已被有效地抹去。陨石以及对太阳系形成后遗留下来的小行星和彗星的远程和直接观测为我们提供了一些见解。这些原始物体提供了早期化学演化的记录，以及在过去45亿年中被运送到地球表面的物质样本。然而，一个有效的有机进化编年史对所有太阳系物体，包括行星表面，是更难找到的。幸运的是，早期的地球并不是太阳系中唯一一个含有有机物质的天体。例如，最近提出的一个模型表明，包括有机物质在内的挥发物可能仍然保存在月球上与熔岩流交织的埋藏古风化层沉积物中。在小行星和彗星允许研究行星形成之前的过程的地方，月球记录可以将这一编年史扩展到行星上的早期生物进化。在这项研究中，我们使用选定的自由和聚合的有机材料来评估的假设，有机物质可以生存的加热在月球风化层的影响，覆盖熔岩流。结果表明，月壤模拟物的存在似乎促进聚合，因此，保存有机物。一旦聚合，矿物托管的新形成的有机网络相对受到保护，不会进一步热降解。我们的研究结果揭示了在月球上保存有机物是可行的热条件。
The organic record of Earth older than ∼3.8 Ga has been effectively erased. Some insight is provided to us by meteorites as well as remote and direct observations of asteroids and comets left over from the formation of the Solar System. These primitive objects provide a record of early chemical evolution and a sample of material that has been delivered to Earth's surface throughout the past 4.5 billion years. Yet an effective chronicle of organic evolution on all Solar System objects, including that on planetary surfaces, is more difficult to find. Fortunately, early Earth would not have been the only recipient of organic matter-containing objects in the early Solar System. For example, a recently proposed model suggests the possibility that volatiles, including organic material, remain archived in buried paleoregolith deposits intercalated with lava flows on the Moon. Where asteroids and comets allow the study of processes before planet formation, the lunar record could extend that chronicle to early biological evolution on the planets. In this study, we use selected free and polymeric organic materials to assess the hypothesis that organic matter can survive the effects of heating in the lunar regolith by overlying lava flows. Results indicate that the presence of lunar regolith simulant appears to promote polymerization and, therefore, preservation of organic matter. Once polymerized, the mineral-hosted newly formed organic network is relatively protected from further thermal degradation. Our findings reveal the thermal conditions under which preservation of organic matter on the Moon is viable.