Talk:Regolith
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Regolith is a layer of loose, heterogeneous material covering a layer of solid rock usually called bedrock. Regolith is present on Earth, the Moon, some asteroids, and other planets. The causes of regolith on earth are weathering and biological processes. On bodies without an atmosphere, regolith is caused by the gravitational reaggregation of debris resulting from impact with other objects. On Earth, it is one of the important factors for most life, since few plants can grow on or within solid rock, and animals would be unable to burrow or build shelter without a loose material.
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[edit] Generaliuty of definition?
Does regolith refer to any loose heterogeneous matter lying atop the bedrock, hence including soil, sand, peat, etc? Or is it loose rocky material only? --Andrew 06:37, Dec 14, 2004 (UTC)
It is the totality of the weathered part of the rock, including the soil, subsoil, saprolite zone and the weathered rock which is in-situ but which is being weathered from fresh silicate minerals to clay minerals. Rolinator 07:42, 10 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] NASA stuff
A chemical composition would have been helpful here. NASA is sponsoring a competition for extracting oxygen (02) from regolith right now. Moon chemical composition of basalt or igneous lava would help researchers answer the question. The story was discussed on WBBM-AM Radio Chicago on Friday 2/25/06. It seemed to me to be possible to create a battery and break up water molecules in the regolith.
James T. Struck
[edit] ISBNs
Can't seem to get the ISBN formated correctly. Could someone add 0521334446 to the Lunar Sourcebook reference and then I'll add it elsewhere and some more. Thanks.
David Bigwood
Think it might be a matter of dashes. I used the ISBN-13, if that's ok - Christina Pikas - actually someone removed it so i guess not. I'll try re-editing with the one you have.
[edit] "Regolith" on the moon
Why not just call it dust or gravel and leave it at that? Why go about renaming it as "regolith"? You noticed rocks, dirt, dust, and gravel on Earth also belonhing in the category, so what's the problem with calling the pulverized rocks on the moon something similar? 204.52.215.107 02:20, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
What a silly question. Besides the definitions being slightly different, how smart do you think a scientist would feel talking about the 'gravel' layer? They wouldn't, because it's not sciency enough of a word. Gravel is Anglo, only Latin and Greek based words are smart. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.137.159.123 (talk) 04:27, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
- Not to mention that regolith has a specific meaning that isn't encompassed by "dust" and "gravel". They don't mean the same thing, so they're not interchangeable. Bryan Derksen (talk) 08:57, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] "everything between fresh rock and fresh air"
As my subject suggests; this is a quote. When I see a quote, I like to know where it came from. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.137.159.123 (talk) 04:25, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
