IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-60388-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Lunar dichotomy in surface water storage of impact glass beads

Author

Listed:
  • Huicun He

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Sen Hu

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Liang Gao

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Ruiying Li

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Jialong Hao

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Ross N. Mitchell

    (University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
    Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Kai Lu

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Yubing Gao

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Linxi Li

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Mengfan Qiu

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Zhan Zhou

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Wei Yang

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Shuhui Cai

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Yi Chen

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Lihui Jia

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Qiu-Li Li

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Hejiu Hui

    (Nanjing University)

  • Yangting Lin

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Xian-Hua Li

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Fu-Yuan Wu

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Abstract

Water is the one of most precious resources for planetary utilisation. Lunar nearside impact glass beads (IGBs) have been demonstrated to contain abundant solar wind-derived water (SW-H2O); however, little is known about its farside counterpart. Here, we report the water abundances and hydrogen isotope compositions and their distribution in farside IGBs collected by the Chang’e-6 mission to investigate the role of IGBs in the lunar surface water cycle. Farside IGBs are found to have water abundances of ~10–1,070 μg.g−1 with hydrogen isotopes (δD) ranging from –988‰ to >2000‰ and display typical SW-H2O hydration profiles. The SW-H2O hydration depths in farside IGBs are strikingly shallower than in nearside IGBs. Moreover, the hydration profiles are only found in mare IGBs, with none observed in non-mare IGBs, indicating that SW-H2O hydration in IGBs is likely composition dependent. These findings indicate that SW-H2O storage of IGBs exhibits a dichotomy distribution in lunar soils.

Suggested Citation

  • Huicun He & Sen Hu & Liang Gao & Ruiying Li & Jialong Hao & Ross N. Mitchell & Kai Lu & Yubing Gao & Linxi Li & Mengfan Qiu & Zhan Zhou & Wei Yang & Shuhui Cai & Yi Chen & Lihui Jia & Qiu-Li Li & Heji, 2025. "Lunar dichotomy in surface water storage of impact glass beads," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60388-y
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60388-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60388-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-60388-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sen Hu & Huicun He & Jianglong Ji & Yangting Lin & Hejiu Hui & Mahesh Anand & Romain Tartèse & Yihong Yan & Jialong Hao & Ruiying Li & Lixin Gu & Qian Guo & Huaiyu He & Ziyuan Ouyang, 2021. "A dry lunar mantle reservoir for young mare basalts of Chang’e-5," Nature, Nature, vol. 600(7887), pages 49-53, December.
    2. Chuanjiao Zhou & Hong Tang & Xiongyao Li & Xiaojia Zeng & Bing Mo & Wen Yu & Yanxue Wu & Xiandi Zeng & Jianzhong Liu & Yuanyun Wen, 2022. "Chang’E-5 samples reveal high water content in lunar minerals," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Qiu-Li Li & Qin Zhou & Yu Liu & Zhiyong Xiao & Yangting Lin & Jin-Hua Li & Hong-Xia Ma & Guo-Qiang Tang & Shun Guo & Xu Tang & Jiang-Yan Yuan & Jiao Li & Fu-Yuan Wu & Ziyuan Ouyang & Chunlai Li & Xian, 2021. "Two-billion-year-old volcanism on the Moon from Chang’e-5 basalts," Nature, Nature, vol. 600(7887), pages 54-58, December.
    4. Alberto E. Saal & Erik H. Hauri & Mauro L. Cascio & James A. Van Orman & Malcolm C. Rutherford & Reid F. Cooper, 2008. "Volatile content of lunar volcanic glasses and the presence of water in the Moon’s interior," Nature, Nature, vol. 454(7201), pages 192-195, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Huijuan Zhang & Wei Yang & Di Zhang & Hengci Tian & Renhao Ruan & Sen Hu & Yi Chen & Hejiu Hui & Yanhao Lin & Ross N. Mitchell & Di Zhang & Shitou Wu & Lihui Jia & Lixin Gu & Yangting Lin & XianHua Li, 2024. "Long-term reduced lunar mantle revealed by Chang’e-5 basalt," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Chuanjiao Zhou & Hong Tang & Xiongyao Li & Xiaojia Zeng & Bing Mo & Wen Yu & Yanxue Wu & Xiandi Zeng & Jianzhong Liu & Yuanyun Wen, 2022. "Chang’E-5 samples reveal high water content in lunar minerals," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Heng-Ci Tian & Chi Zhang & Wei Yang & Jun Du & Yi Chen & Zhiyong Xiao & Ross N. Mitchell & Hejiu Hui & Hitesh G. Changela & Tian-Xin Zhang & Xu Tang & Di Zhang & Yangting Lin & Xianhua Li & Fuyuan Wu, 2023. "Surges in volcanic activity on the Moon about two billion years ago," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    4. Dawei Liu & Xing Wang & Jianjun Liu & Bin Liu & Xin Ren & Yuan Chen & Zhaopeng Chen & Hongbo Zhang & Guangliang Zhang & Qin Zhou & Zhoubin Zhang & Qiang Fu & Chunlai Li, 2022. "Spectral interpretation of late-stage mare basalt mineralogy unveiled by Chang’E-5 samples," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Chengyuan Zhang & Qianran Qin & Bingqing Zhao & Cuicui Yu & Shouyang Wang & Jian Chai & Fuxin Jiang, 2025. "Insights into space tourism discourse on TikTok using a deep visual model and a text mining method: trends, topics, and public attitudes," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-13, December.
    6. Yunhua Fu & Renbiao Tao & Lifei Zhang & Shijie Li & Ya-Nan Yang & Dehan Shen & Zilong Wang & Thomas Meier, 2024. "Trace element detection in anhydrous minerals by micro-scale quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    7. Tabb C. Prissel & Nan Zhang & Colin R. M. Jackson & Haoyuan Li, 2023. "Rapid transition from primary to secondary crust building on the Moon explained by mantle overturn," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    8. Tabb C. Prissel & Kelsey B. Prissel, 2021. "A lunar sample renaissance," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-3, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60388-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.