Tiny glass beads suggest Moon had active volcanoes when dinosaurs roamed Earth (Sep. 14th 2024)

Thee is new evidence suggesting that the Moon may have been volcanically active much more recently than previously thought, and it could still be active today.

This discovery came from lunar soil samples returned by China’s Chang'e 5 mission in December 2020. Among the 3,000 glass beads found in the sample, three were identified as being formed by volcanic activity, dating back only 123 million years. 

This is significant because, until now, it was believed that lunar volcanism ended 3 to 3.8 billion years ago. The discovery suggests that the Moon may have experienced volcanism throughout its lifetime, overturning previous assumptions about its evolution.

The glass beads are likely formed by volcanic magma fountains, rather than asteroid impacts, as confirmed by earlier volcanic findings on the Moon. The beads were collected near Mons Rümker, an area known for its volcanic domes, further supporting the idea of recent volcanic activity.


Fig - (A to C) BSE images of three volcanic glass beads. (D) 207Pb/206Pb and 238U/206Pb ratios for the three beads measured using SIMS. The solid blue curve is a radioactive decay model, with labeled open circles indicating model age (millions of years ago). The dashed blue line is a regression line fitted to the data of the three volcanic glass beads and assuming the initial Pb composition was 207Pb/206Pb = 0.6 ± 0.1.


source: https://www.space.com/moon-volcanically-active-today-china-change-5

Paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk6635