Tranquillityite Minerals Found in Earth’s Moon

Recently found tranquillityite spread in Western Australia, a mineral that is known only in moon rocks and meteorites, and mineral content can be found in the earth are many.

Tranquillityite does not have economic value, but scientists said that this mineral can be used to determine the stone age where it is found by measuring the proportion of radioactive isotopes in minerals.

This mineral was named based on the Ocean Peace (Sea of ​​Tranquility) on the moon, where Apollo 11 astronauts landed in 1969.

Scientists have discovered three previously unknown mineral in the rock samples collected from frozen moon, namely: armalcolite, pyroxferroite, and tranquillityite. The first two minerals that were later found in the earth in the last decade, but tranquillityite remained hidden for over 40 years.

Birger Rasmussen, a geologist at Curtin University in Bentley, Australia, and his team reported their findings in this month’s issue of Geology.

Birger Rasmussen says that tranquillityite seems to spread in large quantities in the earth, although the shape is very small. Tranquillityite crystal size of about 150 micrometers long and look like tiny needles.

The team examined igneous rocks in Western Australia, especially areas that did not experience major changes in the earth’s metamorphosis, because tranquillityite easy to transform into other minerals when exposed to heat or excessive pressure.

Team researchers were able to confirm the discovery tranquillityite by firing high speed electrons through rock samples. Tranquillityite spread of electrons in a unique pattern that reflects the same pattern with mineral samples taken from the moon.

So far, scientists thought that tranquillityite is a typical mineral of the month, giving rise to the notion that chemical and geological processes on the moon is actually the same as on earth. A number of opinion began to express the view that the moon is actually a part of a split on the planet billions of years ago.