Richard S. Miller^a, David J. Lawrence^b, Dana M. Hurley^b

^aDepartment of Physics, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899, USA
^bJohns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA

Bulk surface hydrogen enhancements have been identified within the Moon’s Shackleton crater. Using an analysis of fast and epithermal neutron data from the Lunar Prospector mission, the permanently shadowed region (PSR) within this crater has a surface concentration of 0.72±0.13 wt.% water equivalent hydrogen (WEH). In contrast, hydrogen enhancements within other polar PSRs such as Cabeus are likely buried under more than 10 cm of hydrogen-poor regolith. Subsurface hydrogen absent a surficial counterpart implies an episodic delivery mechanism. The burial depth suggests the epoch of hydrogen deposition was at least 100 million years ago if impact gardening is the dominant mechanism for volatile transport to depth. Shackleton crater’s surface enhancement may be related to its thermal environment, ~30 K warmer than other South Pole PSRs, in which thermal processes control the vertical migration of hydrogen within Shackleton but inhibit migration in colder regions.

Reference
Miller RS, Lawrence DJ and Hurley DM (in press) Identification of Surface Hydrogen Enhancements Within the Moon’s Shackleton Crater. Icarus
[doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2014.02.007]
Copyright Elsevier

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