Unveiling Recent Volcanic Activity on the Moon: Chang’e-5 Findings
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Exploring Lunar Volcanism
The Chang’e-5 spacecraft landed on the Moon, marking a significant achievement for China’s space program. This mission, launched by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), has revealed evidence of surprising recent volcanic activity on the lunar surface. The spacecraft touched down on December 1, 2020, and successfully collected rock samples, which returned to Earth on December 16, 2020.
These samples, taken from a region known as Oceanus Procellarum (or ‘Ocean of Storms’), provided an unprecedented opportunity to study young lunar lava. This area, spanning 2,500 kilometers, had never been explored previously, and it represented a critical gap in our understanding of lunar geology since the last lunar samples were collected during the Apollo missions and earlier Russian expeditions in the 1970s.
Filling the Geological Gap
Brad Jolliff, a co-author of the study, highlighted the significance of these findings, stating, “All of the volcanic rocks collected by Apollo were older than 3 billion years. The Chang’e-5 samples fill a critical gap.” Researchers have determined that the rock samples are approximately 1.97 billion years old, contrasting sharply with previous findings that indicated lunar volcanic activity peaked between 3.8 and 3 billion years ago. This suggests that there has been more recent volcanism than previously understood.
Implications for Cosmic Understanding
The data gathered from these lunar samples is crucial not only for lunar studies but also for understanding the geology of other celestial bodies in our solar system. For instance, it is estimated that a significant eruption occurred in Oceanus Procellarum, releasing around 2,000 cubic kilometers of basaltic magma. By dating the samples and correlating them with the number of impact craters on the Moon’s surface, scientists can draw parallels to other planets, such as Mars, which share a similar crater density.
Unanswered Questions in Lunar Volcanism
Despite these groundbreaking findings, researchers are still puzzled about the reasons behind this relatively recent volcanic activity. The Moon had begun to cool significantly by the time the Oceanus Procellarum formed, leading to questions about the heat sources that could sustain volcanism. Some suggest that residual radioactive elements like uranium and thorium may provide necessary heat, while others theorize that the Earth’s gravitational influence may have played a role due to its proximity to the Moon 2 billion years ago.
However, both theories face challenges. For instance, the Chang’e-5 samples did not reveal significant amounts of the expected radioactive materials, and it remains uncertain why Earth’s gravitational pull would only induce localized volcanism rather than affecting the entire lunar surface.
Additionally, some researchers speculate that there might be even younger volcanic regions on the Moon, potentially only tens or hundreds of millions of years old. This could necessitate a reevaluation of existing theories about lunar formation and activity.
In conclusion, the Chang’e-5 mission has opened new avenues of research into lunar geology and volcanism. As scientists continue to analyze the samples and data, we may uncover further insights into the Moon's history and its geological processes.
Complete research published in the Journal of Science.