The need to classify moon soils: Proposal for a first step for planetary pedology
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8123381
For the Moon, we propose to use characteristics of the lunar regolith such as the Is/FeO maturity index of Morris and the agglutinate content as a first attempt to differentiate soil horizons. Base on those, we propose a labelling system inspired on Earth’s pedology concept but adapted to the Moon context. We expect this work to serve as a starting point for discussions between the planetary scientists community and soil scientists with the aim of building the foundation and concepts of extra-terrestrial soil science for space resources, as already advocated by Cameron in 1963.
Morris, R.V. (1978) Proc. LPSC 9th, 2287-2297
Cameron, R.E. (1963) The role of Soil Science in Space Exploration. Space Reviews 2:297–312.