Lunar soil, is it good for plants?

There is no such thng as lunar "soil". Technically, the powder on the
surface of the boon and the broken rocks eneath are called "regolith"
which is a soil-like material without any biological content.
The same goes for Mars and the asteroids; there is no "soil", only regolith.

Matthew Ota

Bill Carson wrote:

I been pondering what the grey moon soil is really like and whether
you can simply "just add water" to make it suitable for plants!
Seriously, does the soil on the moon need to have organic nutrients to
support plants or can you turn lunar soil into growing soil just by
adding water?

You could argue the same for soil on Mars and the asteroids.

BC

"Matthew Ota" wrote in message ...
There is no such thng as lunar "soil". Technically, the powder on the
surface of the boon and the broken rocks eneath are called "regolith"
which is a soil-like material without any biological content.
The same goes for Mars and the asteroids; there is no "soil", only regolith.

Matthew Ota

I'm not sure that's a very helpful answer.

ISTM that it rather depends on what water-soluble salts, if any,
are present in that material. I honestly have no idea, and I'd like
to hear from someone informed on this.

Intuitively, I kind of suspect that there might not be much of interest
that's water-soluble in it. Where would it come from; what would create
it?

I rather doubt that lunar "soil"/"regiolith" (whatever the etymology of
that latter word be) would happen to be rich in all the nutrients that
plants need, and free of toxins.

We await informed comment.


Martin
--
M.A.Poyser Tel.: 07967 110890
Manchester, U.K. http://www.fleetie.demon.co.uk

"Matthew Ota" wrote in message ...
There is no such thng as lunar "soil". Technically, the powder on the
surface of the boon and the broken rocks eneath are called "regolith"
which is a soil-like material without any biological content.
The same goes for Mars and the asteroids; there is no "soil", only regolith.

Matthew Ota

I'm not sure that's a very helpful answer.

ISTM that it rather depends on what water-soluble salts, if any,
are present in that material. I honestly have no idea, and I'd like
to hear from someone informed on this.

Intuitively, I kind of suspect that there might not be much of interest
that's water-soluble in it. Where would it come from; what would create
it?

I rather doubt that lunar "soil"/"regiolith" (whatever the etymology of
that latter word be) would happen to be rich in all the nutrients that
plants need, and free of toxins.

We await informed comment.


Martin
--
M.A.Poyser Tel.: 07967 110890
Manchester, U.K. http://www.fleetie.demon.co.uk

Fleetie wrote:


I rather doubt that lunar "soil"/"regiolith" (whatever the etymology of
that latter word be) would happen to be rich in all the nutrients that
plants need, and free of toxins.

We await informed comment.

Come on Martin, when has that ever stopped us ?
;-)

Steve

Fleetie wrote:


I rather doubt that lunar "soil"/"regiolith" (whatever the etymology of
that latter word be) would happen to be rich in all the nutrients that
plants need, and free of toxins.

We await informed comment.

Come on Martin, when has that ever stopped us ?
;-)

Steve

Steve Taylor wrote:
Fleetie wrote:


I rather doubt that lunar "soil"/"regiolith" (whatever the etymology of
that latter word be) would happen to be rich in all the nutrients that
plants need, and free of toxins.

We await informed comment.


Come on Martin, when has that ever stopped us ?
;-)

Steve


So, after a 10 minute quick tour of experimental geology....

Regolith is the name given to any ground up covering of big rocks with
little bits of powdered rock - Earth, Moon, Mars wherever. So Regolith
is not a specific name for that which we conveniently can call "lunar
soil" - I think we can all agree that the soil is biologically sterile.

Anyway, to quote from this webpage
http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/education/...r/teacher3.htm

" The regolith consists of what you’d expect from an impact-generated
pile of debris. It contains rock and mineral fragments derived from the
original bedrock. It also contains glassy particles formed by the
impacts. In many lunar regoliths, half of the particles are composed of
mineral fragments that are bound together by impact glass; scientists
call these objects agglutinates. The chemical composition of the
regolith reflects the composition of the bedrock underneath. Regolith in
the highlands is rich in aluminum, as are highland rocks. Regolith in
the maria is rich in iron and magnesium, major constituents of basalt. A
little bit of mixing from beneath basalt layers or from distant highland
locales occurs, but not enough to obscure the basic difference between
the highlands and the maria."

I wonder if it would make a neat school type demonstration to utilise a
model lunar soil to grow stuff ?

Steve

Steve Taylor wrote:
Fleetie wrote:


I rather doubt that lunar "soil"/"regiolith" (whatever the etymology of
that latter word be) would happen to be rich in all the nutrients that
plants need, and free of toxins.

We await informed comment.


Come on Martin, when has that ever stopped us ?
;-)

Steve


So, after a 10 minute quick tour of experimental geology....

Regolith is the name given to any ground up covering of big rocks with
little bits of powdered rock - Earth, Moon, Mars wherever. So Regolith
is not a specific name for that which we conveniently can call "lunar
soil" - I think we can all agree that the soil is biologically sterile.

Anyway, to quote from this webpage
http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/education/...r/teacher3.htm

" The regolith consists of what you’d expect from an impact-generated
pile of debris. It contains rock and mineral fragments derived from the
original bedrock. It also contains glassy particles formed by the
impacts. In many lunar regoliths, half of the particles are composed of
mineral fragments that are bound together by impact glass; scientists
call these objects agglutinates. The chemical composition of the
regolith reflects the composition of the bedrock underneath. Regolith in
the highlands is rich in aluminum, as are highland rocks. Regolith in
the maria is rich in iron and magnesium, major constituents of basalt. A
little bit of mixing from beneath basalt layers or from distant highland
locales occurs, but not enough to obscure the basic difference between
the highlands and the maria."

I wonder if it would make a neat school type demonstration to utilise a
model lunar soil to grow stuff ?

Steve

"Steve Taylor" wrote

[regolith]

Hmm, I just wondered what the etymology was.

Gotta dash out now; I admit I haven't read your post properly
yet. I'll mark it "unread" and come back to it later.

Thanks.


Martin
--
M.A.Poyser Tel.: 07967 110890
Manchester, U.K. http://www.fleetie.demon.co.uk

"Steve Taylor" wrote

[regolith]

Hmm, I just wondered what the etymology was.

Gotta dash out now; I admit I haven't read your post properly
yet. I'll mark it "unread" and come back to it later.

Thanks.


Martin
--
M.A.Poyser Tel.: 07967 110890
Manchester, U.K. http://www.fleetie.demon.co.uk

In message , "Bill
Carson "
writes
I been pondering what the grey moon soil is really like and whether
you can simply "just add water" to make it suitable for plants!
Seriously, does the soil on the moon need to have organic nutrients to
support plants or can you turn lunar soil into growing soil just by
adding water?

You could argue the same for soil on Mars and the asteroids.

BC

After the Apollo landings they tried growing seeds in a "soil" sample
and I gather it was successful. There's nothing poisonous in it.
If current theory is right, that might not be true of Martian soil,
which may be highly oxidising.
--
What have they got to hide? Release the Beagle 2 report.
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