Samples obtained by Chinese spacecraft show moon's ancient volcanism
lunar volcanism.
Researchers said on Friday the soil brought back from the Chang'e-6 landing site contained fragments of volcanic rock — basalt — dating to 4.2 billion years ago and to 2.8 billion years ago. This points to a long period of volcanic activity — at least 1.4 billion years — on the far side during the first half of the moon's history, when it was a more dynamic world than it is today.
The moon, like Earth, formed about 4.5 billion years ago. Volcanism on the moon, Earth and other planetary bodies involves the eruption of molten rock from the mantle — the layer just under the outer crust — onto the surface. The landing site in the South Pole-Aitken Basin, an impact crater, is an area with the thinnest crust on the moon, helpful for finding evidence of volcanism.
The Chang'e-6 probe used a scoop and drill to obtain about 4-1/4 pounds (1,935 grams) of soil. It then returned the material to Earth, landing in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia.
«The Chang'e-6 samples provide a unique opportunity to study far side volcanism,» said lunar scientist Qiu-Li Li of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who helped lead the study in the journal Nature, one of two published on Friday detailing the findings, the other in the journal Science.
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