Timing Of Lunar Geological Processes Using In Situ Dating Methods

月球有着复杂的地质历史，包括地壳形成，侵入岩浆活动，喷出玄武岩火山活动，以及碰撞小行星和彗星的撞击。这些事件的时间记录在月球岩石样本中的矿物和玻璃相中保存的同位素记录中。分析技术的最新进展使我们能够重新审视阿波罗和月球使命样本，以确定更精确的样本日期，并将相同的方法应用于月球陨石等新样本。该项目的目标是调查在角砾岩月球样本中发现的玄武岩碎屑（小岩石碎片），以更好地确定在月球高地岩石中发现的玄武岩和从月球风化层（土壤）中提取的玄武岩的年龄分布。该项目还侧重于确定撞击月球土壤产生的玻璃的年代，称为凝集物。我们将调查凝集年龄人口与风化层中发现的较大玻璃碎片之间的关系，测试它们是否来自相同或不同的撞击事件。

The Moon has a complex geological history with phases including crust formation, intrusive magmatism, extrusive basaltic volcanism, and bombardment by colliding asteroids and comets. The timing of these events is recorded in the isotopic records preserved within minerals and glass phases in lunar rock samples. Recent progress in analytical techniques have allowed us to revisit Apollo and Luna mission samples to determine more precise sample dates, and apply the same methods to new samples like lunar meteorites. Objectives of the project are to investigate clasts (small rock fragments) of basalts found within brecciated lunar samples to better characterise the age distribution of basalts found in lunar highland rocks and extracted from the lunar regolith (soil). The project also focuses on dating glass generated by impacts into the lunar soil, known as agglutinates. We will investigate how agglutinate age populations relate to larger fragments of glass found in the regolith, testing if they are generated from the same or different impact events.