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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS,
VOL. 36,
L16203,
5 PP., 2009
doi:10.1029/2009GL038614
Cold-trapped organic compounds at the poles of the Moon and Mercury: Implications for origins
Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
We have calculated evaporation rates for a range of organic compounds that may be cold-trapped at the poles of the Moon and Mercury. Organics vary widely in their volatilities and thus can be stable to evaporation at higher and lower temperatures than water. The detection of cold-trapped organics would point to volatile delivery by impacts, as comets and asteroids are the only plausible sources for organic molecules. The characterization of cold-trapped organics on both bodies may provide constraints on the thermal evolution of cold traps over time and the history of volatiles in the inner solar system.
Received 8 April 2009; accepted 16 June 2009; published 26 August 2009.
Citation: (2009), Cold-trapped organic compounds at the poles of the Moon and Mercury: Implications for origins, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L16203, doi:10.1029/2009GL038614.
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