Crustal porosity reveals the bombardment history of the Moon Ya Huei Huang (
[email protected] ) Massachusetts Institute of Technology Jason Soderblom Massachusetts Institute of Technology https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3715-6407 David Minton Purdue University Masatoshi Hirabayashi Auburn University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1821-5689 Jay Melosh Purdue University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1881-1496 Article Keywords: Planetary Bombardment, Solar System Formation and Evolution, Porosity Modication, Siderophile Delivery Posted Date: January 6th, 2021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-98852/v1 License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Read Full License Title: Crustal porosity reveals the bombardment history of the Moon Authors: Ya Huei Huang1*, Jason M. Soderblom1, David A. Minton2, Masatoshi Hirabayashi3, H. Jay Melosh2. Affiliations: 1Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts USA 02139. 2Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana USA 47907. 3Department of Aerospace Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama USA 36849. *To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
[email protected] 1 Planetary bombardment histories provide critical information regarding the formation and 2 evolution of the Solar System and of the planets within it. These records evidence transient 3 instabilities in the Solar System’s orbital evolution1, giant impacts such as the Moon-forming 4 impact2, and material redistribution. Such records provide insight into planetary evolution, 5 including the deposition of energy, delivery of materials, and crustal processing, specifically 6 the modification of porosity. Bombardment histories are traditionally constrained from the 7 surface expression of impacts — these records, however, are degraded by various geologic 8 processes.