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Question
What is Moon rock like? Is it a solid like granite making it difficult to mine and tunnel into, or is it more like a light volcanic pumice?
Moon rock is unique, just as the Moon and its geochemical history is unique. All lunar rocks are igneous, since the crust was once molten. The primary rocks are classed as basalts (in the maria) and anorthosites (in the highlands). In general, the lunar rocks are simpler than those on Earth, with fewer minerals, because of the absence of water and of the products of aqueous alternation. There is probably no granite and little if any volcanic pumice. The surface has been shattered by 4 billion years of impacts and now mostly consists of small dusty particles called the regolith.
David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist
March 29, 2005
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