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On the sputter alteration of regoliths of outer solar system bodiesThe present theoretical and experimental consideration of processes that are expected to occur when the porous regoliths on outer solar system bodies lacking atmospheres are subjected to energetic ion bombardment indicates that porosity reduces the effective sputtering yield of a soil by more than an order of magnitude. Between 90 and 97 percent of the sputtered atoms are trapped within the regolith and subjected to differential desorption fractionation, which emerges as the most important path for the alteration of chemical and optical properties in sputtered regoliths. Sputtered porous mixtures of water, ammonia and methane frosts suffer a loss of H, and surface reactions of C, N, and O that should yield complex hydrocarbons and carbohydrates; such reactions may have played a role in the formation of carbonaceous chondrites' matrix material prior to agglomeration.
Document ID
19860061144
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Hapke, B.
(Pittsburgh, University PA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 12, 2013
Publication Date
May 1, 1986
Publication Information
Publication: Icarus
Volume: 66
ISSN: 0019-1035
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
Accession Number
86A45882
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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