Trevor Pettit
Earth Science Current Event Project
“Scientists Detect Magmatic Water
on the Earth’s Surface”
Summary:
This
August, magmatic water, or water that originates from deep inside a celestial
bodies’ surface, was found on the Moon.
This was found using NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Miner, and this is the first
time we have detected lunar magmatic water.
This is a significant finding, as before the detection of magmatic water
on the moon, many scientists thought that Moon rocks were “bone dry.” Now, researchers believe that this thin layer
of magmatic water was formed from solar wind hitting the Moon’s surface. Unfortunately, the water found on the surface
did not give away any information about magmatic water deeper in the moon’s
mantle or core, however rocks in and around the Bullialdus Crater were
identified, which can help scientists learn how the magmatic water rose to the
surface, and where it may be located deeper inside the Moon. These new findings help us understand more
about the Moon’s interior and volcanic processes, and also helps us broaden our
understanding of the geological composition of the Moon, allowing us to put
other rock samples into context using rocks with native magmatic water. It also helps provide legitimacy to the
findings of studies on prior samples.
Relevance:
These new findings
are not only the source of new data, but they also provide legitimacy for prior
data. For example, we are now able to
compare the results of labs done on rocks taken from the Moon to the data
collected by the Moon Mineralogy Miner on rocks in there native habitat, which
we had not been able to do before.
However, the Moon Mineralogy Miner’s finding of magmatic water on the
surface of the Moon also provides important new information, as well as new
questions and ideas. For example, we now
know to look for magmatic water in the mantle and core of the Moon, and also
know where we may find evidence of magmatic water in these areas. Also, these findings help us understand the
interior composition of the moon and its volcanic processes, but also lead us
to question how magmatic water found its way to the surface. We need to take more data from rocks on other
areas of the Moon in order to fully analyze this data, but hopefully these will
help us understand more about the formation and composition of the Moon in the
future.
Critique:
This
article was very informative, and also included several quotations from experts
on the topic, however there was so much information clumped together that it
was a little difficult to read. The
large amounts of information also lead to quick changes of pace and topic,
causing the article to be somewhat unorganized.
This article would be easier to read if there was analysis of the
information between facts and quotes and headings that categorized the
information. A little more background
information on the experts quoted in the article would also be nice. However, the article was very informative and
contained an abundance of interesting information.
Works Cited
Hagerty, Justin, and Marisa Lubeck. "USGS Newsroom." USGS
Release: Scientists Detect Magmatic Water on Moon’s Surface (8/26/2013 8:31:57
AM). NASA, 26 Aug. 2013. Web. 06 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3669>.
Good website that separates
articles by location: http://geology.com/news/
Great job! Your report was both well written and highly informative. Your review was current event was short, but detailed. You also did a good job of defining terms that would have been unknown to the reader. For example, in the first sentence you defined magmatic water, water that originates from deep inside a celestial bodies’ surface. If you had not defined this term the rest of the review would have been very confusing. Your review was very easy to understand and enjoyable to read because it didn’t drag on with meaningless facts. It was short and too the point, which was good. From reading your current event, I learned so much. Without reading this current event, I probably never would’ve known about the discovery of magmatic water that was found on the moon, which is amazing. I also learned that a source of water might be located in the deeper layers of the moon. Personally, I found this really interesting because, as you had previously mentioned, the moon was thought of as being “bone dry,” but discovering these rocks containing magmatic water might lead to the discovery of a larger water source on the moon. Overall, I found your review was great. You could’ve added a little more information to the summary while still keeping it easy to understand and interesting to read. Excellent job!
ReplyDeleteI really like the way you organized your essay into three separate paragraphs. I also liked how you explained why these new discoveries are so important. I didn't know that by finding this magmatic water it can help us learn more about whether I old conclusions were correct or not. I also was wondering how it managed to get there and think you essay brought up some great points! I think it is so interesting that there was magmatic water found on the moon even after scientists thought it was completely dry. To improve you essay I would have added a little more cohesiveness overall.
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