Anorthositic in the context of Magnetite

Lunar regolith is the unconsolidated material found on the surface of the Moon and in the Moon's tenuous atmosphere. Lunar soil typically refers to only the finer fraction of lunar regolith, which is composed of grains 1 cm in diameter or less, but is often used interchangeably. Lunar soil differs substantially in properties from terrestrial soil. Lunar dust is even finer regolith than lunar soil, with grain sizes less than one millimeter.

Lunar regolith is primarily the result of mechanical weathering. Continual meteoric impacts and bombardment by solar and interstellar charged atomic particles of the lunar surface over billions of years ground the basaltic and anorthositic rock, the regolith of the Moon, into progressively finer material. This situation contrasts fundamentally to terrestrial soil formation, mediated by the presence of molecular oxygen (O₂), humidity, atmospheric wind, and a robust array of contributing biological processes.