Table of Contents
What does regolith mean?
regolith, a region of loose unconsolidated rock and dust that sits atop a layer of bedrock. On Earth, regolith also includes soil, which is a biologically active medium and a key component in plant growth.
What is the other name of regolith?
The term lunar soil is often used interchangeably with “lunar regolith” but typically refers to the finer fraction of regolith, that which is composed of grains one centimetre in diameter or less.
Is regolith another name for bedrock?
bedrock, a deposit of solid rock that is typically buried beneath soil and other broken or unconsolidated material (regolith). Bedrock is made up of igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic rock, and it often serves as the parent material (the source of rock and mineral fragments) for regolith and soil.
What is regolith made of?
Definition: The term regolith refers to any layer of material covering solid rock, which can come in the form of dust, soil or broken rock. The word is derived from the combination of two Greek words – rhegos (which means “blanket”) and lithos (which means “rock).
What is regolith in astronomy?
Definition. Regolith is the cover of loose material overlying the bedrock of a planet, satellite, or asteroid, and includes fragmented and weathered rocks, soil, and sediments.
Where does regolith come from?
Regolith is a layer of loose or unlithified soil and rock debris that overlies and blankets bedrock . It is derived from the Greek roots rhegos, for blanket, and lithos, for stone. The term is descriptive and non-genetic, meaning that regolith refers to any blanket of unlithified material regardless of its origin.
What is a regolith on the Moon?
Regolith is a terrestrial term, also used for the Moon. It has been defined as “a general term for the layer or mantle of fragmental and unconsolidated rock material, whether residual or transported and of highly varied character, that nearly everywhere forms the surface of the land and overlies or covers bedrock.
Is regolith a sand?
Earth: On Earth, regolith takes the form of dirt, soil, sand, and other components that are formed as a result of natural weathering and biological processes.
What color is regolith?
Instead, they could be covered by dust called regolith. Unlike soil here on Earth, which is often held together by water, lunar soil is loose and heterogeneous. But, in many ways, regolith looks like Earth soil, with a dark grey color.
What is moon dirt called?
lunar regolith
The lunar surface is covered by a layer of unconsolidated debris called the lunar regolith (fig. 53). The thickness of the regolith varies from about 5 m on mare surfaces to about 10 m on highland surfaces.
What is unique about regolith?
Regolith is an excellent thermal insulator. It blankets underlying material and buffers temperature changes. It also protects the target bedrock from impacts of small-to-moderate size, redistributing energy. Variations in the regolith can create pockets that sequester volatiles (Chapters 8 and 10).
How is regolith created?
Regolith evolution is a result of the competition between fragmentation and agglutination of the originally coarse regolith layer. On bodies with an atmosphere, regolith can also be created by surface weathering, which alters the physical and chemical nature of the original rock without any transport being involved.
What is the meaning of regolith?
Definition of regolith. : unconsolidated residual or transported material that overlies the solid rock on the earth, moon, or a planet.
Regolith ( / ˈrɛɡəlɪθ /) [1] [2] is a blanket of unconsolidated, loose, heterogeneous superficial deposits covering solid rock. It includes dust, broken rocks, and other related materials and is present on Earth, the Moon, Mars, some asteroids, and other terrestrial planets and moons .
Where is regolith found on Earth?
It also appears on the surfaces of the Moon, other planets, and asteroids; however, the material found on other celestial bodies explored so far does not contain soil. The word is the Greek term for “blanket rock.”. On Earth, regolith is largely a product of weathering.
How old is the regolith?
Regolith can vary from being essentially absent to hundreds of metres in thickness. Its age can vary from instantaneous (for an ash fall or alluvium just deposited) to hundreds of millions of years old (regolith of Precambrian age occurs in parts of Australia, [12] though this may have been buried and subsequently exhumed. [13] )