Thermal diffusivity of four Apollo 17 rock samples

The thermal diffusivities of four Apollo 17 rock samples (70017,77; 70215,18; 72395,14; and 77035,44) are measured in the temperature range between 1800K and 4600K at interstitial gaseous pressures of 1 atm and 10-6 torr of air. The thermal diffusivities at 1 atm are decreasing functions of temperature. Basalt samples (70017,77 and 70215,18) show higher thermal diffusivities than breccias (72395,14 and 77035,44), indicating that the thermal contact between mineral grains is better in crystalline rocks than in breccias. The magnitude of thermal diffusivities of the Apollo 17 basalt samples is intermediate between published diffusivities of Apollo 11 and 12 basalts, suggesting that the intergranular cohesion of Apollo 17 basalts is weaker than that of Apollo 11 basalts but is stronger than that of Apollo 12 basalt. The thermal diffusivities measured at 10-6 torr are less temperature dependent. The basalt samples still show higher thermal diffusivities than the breccias, however. The low thermal diffusivity of the porous breccia sample (72395,14) is comparable to the lunar anorthositic gabbro (77017,24) studied by Mizutani and Osako (1974) that has the lowest thermal diffusivity of lunar rock samples ever reported. The difference between the thermal diffusivities the samples exhibit under atmospheric and vacuum conditions cannot be explained by the effect of thermal conduction through the gas medium filling the interstices of the samples that are absent under vacuum condition. A hypothesis is presented that the thermal conduction across the intergranular contact surfaces is strongly influenced by the adsorption of gas molecules on the surfaces of mineral grains. Measurements are also made in carbon dioxide atmosphere, in the temperature range between 2000K and 4600K