Researchers from Cambridge University have presented a simplified model of Moon-crust. The crystals remained floating inside the liquid magma of the Moon over millions of years. The Lunar magma slush got frozen and hence solidified.
The results are written in the Geophysical journal and review letters. Over forty-five years ago, Apollo eleven astronauts collected moon samples from the Highlands.
These large and pale areas of the Moon are easily visible to the naked eye. They got made up of lightweight rocks named anorthosites. These rocks are formed way early in the Moon's history, around 4.5 billion years ago.
Similar anorthosites got formed by the crystallization of liquid magma on the Moon's surface. It may also get found in a large volume of fossilized magma vents (on Earth). They produce a giant structure of anorthosite on the Moon. But, they require a big magma ocean to do so.
Researchers say that the Moon got formed when two proto-planets collided. The larger one of these two proto-planets made the Earth, and the smaller one became the Moon. One of the many outcomes of such collision was that the Moon filled with magma so hot that its mantle was a magma ocean.
The En-riched Moon surface likely formed magma vents within the upper crust. It explains the Moon's diversity. The given results suggest the new timescale of Moon crust got created several million years ago. It corresponds to the observed ages of the lunar anorthosites.
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