[just us] Compromised how? There's just the usual processes that affect stuff 65M years old (also 64M, 66M etc)--erosive dispersion, oxidation and other chemistry, radioisotope interactions... Are you talking about asteroidal debris material or terrestrial stuff? I suppose asteroidal reference samples that have been subject to a different "chain of custody" that would allow comparison of, say, iridium isotope levels or the like might possibly be useful for something. But I don't think there's going to be much of interest with the much larger terrestrial percentage, since Earth was just minding its own business doing nothing special when it got whacked, so whatever divots got flung to the moon should be pretty ordinary. Now if we could ALSO find some debris from the Permian-Triassic event to compare, to help understand why they had different consequences, that could be interesting... Best regards, --MLB
="Henry Baker" <hbaker1@pipeline.com>
The last time I looked, the k-T stuff on Earth is highly compromised. Hopefully, the Moon stuff will be well-preserved -- especially if it somehow managed to getpretty ordinary/ covered.
At 11:26 AM 2/19/2015, Marc LeBrun wrote:
="Henry Baker" <hbaker1@pipeline.com> FYI -- It would be fabulous to find bits from the k-T boundary (65Mya) on the Moon.
Hate to be a party-pooper, but with all due respect, I think it would be mildly interesting, but hardly "fabulous".
There's tons and tons of K-T boundary material that stayed on Earth, and is conveniently ready-to-hand for examination. So what's the value-add?
* * *
I wish science people would refrain from constant agenda-driven gushing like
"...strongly suggests the need for more search and discovery on the Moon."
Yes, yes, as a civilization I agree that we should have an ongoing programme to glean as much such interesting data as possible... But all in due course.
This kind of breathless case-pleading (basically for more funding sooner) with every single damn article about anything gets tiresome and ultimately is counterproductive.
"OMG! Terrestrial lunar debris! It Could Unlock The Secret of Life On Earth! Send more money quick! Wolf!"
For many many values of <Terrestrial lunar debris>...
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