Tranquillityite – Moon Mineral Found In Western Australia

This looks like a very important discovery.
www.universetoday.com...-92441

A mineral brought back to Earth by the first men on the Moon and long thought to be unique to the lunar surface has been found in Australian rocks more than one billion years old, scientists say. Image Credit: Birger Rasmussen

When it comes to our natural human curiosity, we want to know if there’s something new out there… something we haven’t discovered yet. That’s why when lunar rock samples were returned, geologists were thrilled to find very specific minerals – armalcolite, pyroxferroite and tranquillityite – which belonged only to our Moon. However, over the years the first two were found here on Earth and tranquillityite was disclosed in specific meteorites. Named for Tranquility Base, site of the first Moon landing, tranquillityite was supposed to be the final hold-out… the last lunar unique mineral… until now.

Birger Rasmussen, paleontologist with Curtin University in Perth, and colleagues report in their Geology paper that they’ve uncovered tranquillityite in several remote locations in Western Australia. While the samples are incredibly small, about the width of a human hair and merely microns in length, their composition is undeniable. What’s more, tranquillityite may be a lot more common here on Earth than previously thought.

Rasmussen told the Sydney Morning Herald, “This was essentially the last mineral which was sort of uniquely lunar that had been found in the 70s from these samples returned from the Apollo mission.The mineral has since been found exclusively in returned lunar samples and lunar meteorites, with no terrestrial counterpart. We have now identified tranquillityite in six sites from Western Australia.”

“This means that basically we have the same chemical phenomena on the Moon and on Earth.” says Rasmussen. And one of the reasons why it has taken so long to be found is, “No one was looking hard enough.”

Are there any ATS members that can shed some light on this discovery?

Does this simply mean that the earth and moon are similar in composition?
...or is this a more complex discovery?
I'm wondering if this might relate to theories of the moon hitting the earth in the distant past.
Could this be possible evidence of the collision, or just proof that the earth and moon are alike?

Looks cool. Thanks!
S & F

Not looking hard enough! So what other things are we not looking hard enough for? Just goes to show how little we really know.

Great find.

Seems to agree with the latest thinking that the moon might well be part of the Earth, ejected early in the formation of the Earth.

This thinking is also a possible reason for the difference in surface of the visible and the far side of the moon.

So maybe this supports the theory of something colliding with earth in it's early years,thus creating the moon.

Or,since this mineral is created by the decay of uranium,we have been nuking aliens on the moon longer than I thought.

we need to start mapping the moon to look for an indention in the surface that resembles Ayers rock!

I live in the west and I had'nt heard this but then I don't watch TV much either. Maybe it came from the Spacelab. just goes to show we in the west are unique.

Very interesting read , if i must say so .. tho not surprising to me at all, and ill tell you all why in a moment .

I have no proof to back up my theory but i do have one and its based on what my mother told me when i was still in my teens ...

Lets say for arguments sake that the moon came from planet Earth or another planet in our solar system. like a baby being born from its mother ... and in a few billion years that the moon might become another living breathing planet , a little like our mother earth ..... and that just maybe that is how all planets are created .
during which time another moon will be born from the fruits of this planet and we will then have more new planets happening ...

for one thing its a decent explanation and might hold some truth to it if not all of the truth .
it may even be proven one day ..
about 2 decades ago on cnn there was a new story that the planet is in a way what we would term pregnant with another moon . but when i googled this i found nothing ....

again this story was on CNN ..
its something to ponder and look into further ..

for now enjoy my theory ..

tranquillityte?

sounds interesting.

it's long been believed that crystals, gems, stones and such have metaphysical properties & qualities of emotion and thought.

i wonder what this one does.