18/9/2024–|Last update: 9/18/202409:03 AM (Makkah Time)
Since scientists began monitoring geological activity on the moon for hundreds of years, they have found no evidence of any significant volcanic activity, but the results of study A recent study published in the journal Science of lunar soil samples brought back by the Chang'e-5 mission in December 2020 showed that volcanic activity is still present on the moon today.
The researchers base their findings on small pieces of glass found in lunar samples, indicating that the moon may have witnessed volcanic eruptions during the recent geological period.
For a long time, scientists believed that the Moon's volcanic history ended more than 3 billion years ago, based on the study of the dark lunar maria that cover vast areas of the Moon, which were formed from plains of frozen lava. Scientists believe that these ancient volcanic features, visible from Earth, represent the last period of volcanic activity on the Moon.
Lunar Sample Study Challenge
Samples brought back by China's Chang'e-5 mission show that lunar explosions may have occurred only about 123 million years ago, which is a long time in human terms but geologically recent, given that Moon age It is 4.5 billion years old, and based on that, researchers put the possibility of volcanic activity still existing on the surface of the moon today.
From the 3,000 samples, the researchers were able to identify three small glass beads ranging in size from 20 to 400 microns. These glass pieces are usually formed by meteorite impacts that melt lunar soil and turn it into glass. During the analysis, it became clear that these three glass beads had a different origin, resulting from volcanic magma erupting near the volcanic dome region known as “Mons Rumker” located in the northwest part of the near side of the moon.
Using uranium-lead dating, scientists determined that the obsidian beads formed about 123 million years ago, with a margin of error of about 15 million years. This dating technique is based on measuring the ratio of lead to uranium in the glass beads, which allows researchers to estimate their age based on the radioactive decay process in which uranium is converted to lead over time.
This discovery contributes to supporting the theory that the moon was, until recently, volcanically active, especially since in 2014 Found NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has spotted about 70 irregular seamounts on the moon's surface that are thought to be remnants of relatively recent volcanic eruptions. These shallow hills are found on volcanic plains and may be less than 100 million years old, and perhaps even less than 50 million years old.
Does the moon have active volcanoes?
Despite this discovery, it is in stark contrast to current models of the moon's thermal evolution, as its interior should have cooled long ago, which makes it incapable of generating any volcanic activity, which prompts researchers to answer this question: What fuels these relatively recent volcanic eruptions?
Researchers hypothesize that lunar samples containing high concentrations of heat-generating elements such as thorium and potassium could provide hot spots in the lunar mantle, enough to fuel volcanic eruptions on the lunar surface.
Recent evidence of current volcanic activity on the Moon may not necessarily provide evidence, but it does bring to mind “transient lunar phenomena,” persistent claims of short-term changes in the shape and color of the Moon’s surface. Such phenomena have been observed many times, and some believe that some of these phenomena are related to volcanic gas emissions on the Moon’s surface.
This leaves no room for doubt that the moon is not geologically dead, as was previously believed. Based on the results of the published study, searches for evidence of active volcanoes on the moon's surface may be intensified, in order to benefit from them in producing energy that will later supply humans with the construction of the first lunar colonies.