The source and thermal driver of young (<3.0 Ga) lunar volcanism.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 40845096.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.adv9085 and PMC identifier 12372884.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The thermal mechanism that drives the prolonged volcanism on the Moon, especially after the major pulse of Imbrian-aged eruptions, remains unknown. Here, we present a petrological and geochemical study of two types of young farside mare basalts, the ~2.8-billion year (Ga) low-Ti and ~2.9-Ga very-low-Ti basalts, collected during the Chang'e-6 mission. The results of our study show that these basalts have pyroxenitic sources and originate from a depth of ~60 to 80 kilometers and ~120 kilometers, respectively. The depth of their source that became progressively shallower over time, combined with thermal modeling results, suggests that magmatic underplating beneath the ilmenite-bearing cumulate (IBC) that escaped the mantle overturn phase could be a thermal driver for the young lunar magmatism. Global remote-sensing investigations further reveal different TiO<sub>2</sub> contents between young basalts from each side of the Moon, attributable to asymmetric composition and thickness of the IBC in the uppermost mantle.