Ask A Scientist© Astronomy Archive

Question:  I recently had a discussion with a "young earth" believer in Biblical 
creation.  He raised an argument claiming that the moon could not be as old as
scientists claim because there is not as much dust (cosmic dust?) accumulated on 
its surface  as would be expected from its rate of deposition.  I had never hear d this argument
before, and I am not sure where to go to research the problem.  Has anyone dealt 
with question before, and do you know of any references that address this
question?

Answer:  I am not familiar with this argument. I think any good general
astronomy textbook would be a good place to start looking for references.
I believe that some of the rocks returned by the Apollo missions were quite old, 
but other were formed more recently. Apparently some parts of the lunar surface
were flooded by molten lava 1-2 billion years after its formation. That would
certainly destroy wipe out any dust layer.
In addition, I believe that the origin of the moon is still unknown. Some people 
believe it was formed in unison with the Earth; others believe it was a separate 
body which was captured by the Earth.
richard a gerber