Under Your Feet

52

MOON DUST

The Moon is silvery grey, without the Earth’s green

patches of plant life. There is no liquid water, or

atmosphere (gas layer) to block out harmful radiation

and provide the gases a plant needs to survive.

However, Moon dust is similar to soil.

Moon dust

There are no living things

to create tiny tunnels and

caverns in Moon dust. On

Earth, water, nutrients, and

gases move through these

spaces for plants to absorb.

True soil

Soil needs living things.

These eventually form the

organic matter inside it, as

well as its structure. Even

if you added water to Moon

dust, it would just form a paste.

M

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.

Craters are formed

when large meteors

hit the Moon.

Moon rock Forms

from lava cooling

on the surface.

052-053_Lunar_Soil.indd 52 31/10/2019 14:05