| Title: | Organic Matter Responses to Radiation under Lunar Conditions |
| Author(s): | Matthewman R; Crawford IA; Jones AP; Joy KH; Sephton MA; |
| Address: | "1 Impacts and Astromaterials Research Centre, Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London , London, UK. 2 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London , London, UK. 3 Department of Earth Sciences, University College London , London, UK. 4 School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester , Manchester, UK" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1557-8070 (Electronic) 1531-1074 (Print) 1557-8070 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Large bodies, such as the Moon, that have remained relatively unaltered for long periods of time have the potential to preserve a record of organic chemical processes from early in the history of the Solar System. A record of volatiles and impactors may be preserved in buried lunar regolith layers that have been capped by protective lava flows. Of particular interest is the possible preservation of prebiotic organic materials delivered by ejected fragments of other bodies, including those originating from the surface of early Earth. Lava flow layers would shield the underlying regolith and any carbon-bearing materials within them from most of the effects of space weathering, but the encapsulated organic materials would still be subject to irradiation before they were buried by regolith formation and capped with lava. We have performed a study to simulate the effects of solar radiation on a variety of organic materials mixed with lunar and meteorite analog substrates. A fluence of approximately 3 x 10(13) protons cm(-2) at 4-13 MeV, intended to be representative of solar energetic particles, has little detectable effect on low-molecular-weight ( |
| Keywords: | Amino Acids/analysis Biomarkers/analysis *Extraterrestrial Environment Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Hydrocarbons/analysis *Moon Organic Chemicals/*analysis Polymers/analysis *Radiation Solvents; |
| Notes: | "MedlineMatthewman, Richard Crawford, Ian A Jones, Adrian P Joy, Katherine H Sephton, Mark A eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2016/11/22 Astrobiology. 2016 Nov; 16(11):900-912. doi: 10.1089/ast.2015.1442" |
