A recent discovery could change our understanding of the moon. Researchers have discovered a previously invisible formation under the surface of the Silver Globe. It sheds new light on theories about the natural satellite of the Earth.
Recent scientific discoveries point to a different history of the moon than that previously established by researchers. As it turned out, the far side of the Silver Globe was very volcanically active, like the Earth, although this was previously ruled out. How is this possible?
NASA has found a new formation on the moon - this is evidence of the existence of volcanoes
It all started with data collected by a NASA satellite. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is an American probe that has been observing the Silver Globe for many years. This time, the machine collected accurate data on the distribution of temperatures in individual regions.
The data was analyzed by a team of scientists from Stony Brook University (SBU) and the Planetary Science Institute (PSI). Under the craters of Compton and Belkovich, a hotter area 50 kilometers wide was found, which is most likely a heat-reflecting granite. Granite is an igneous rock, which clearly indicates that there were many volcanoes on the Moon, very similar to those on Earth.
Although granite is present on Earth in large quantities, it is extremely rare on the scale of the Universe. So far, in more than 360 kilograms of samples from the moon, scientists have found only traces of this rock. Now a huge field has been discovered, clearly indicating the presence of volcanoes about 3.5 billion years ago.
Granite on the moon surprises scientists
“Usually, the formation of granite is associated with the movement of tectonic plates or aquifer magma. Although the interior of the Moon contains trace amounts of water, the Earth’s moon has never been subjected to plate tectonics, notes Professor Timothy Glotch of the SBU.
He is echoed by Matthew Siegler of the Planetary Science Institute. He recalls that every large piece of granite on Earth once fed large clusters of volcanoes with magma.
“The so-called batholiths are much larger than the surface volcanoes they feed. All the Sierra Nevada mountains in the United States are a batholith that fed a chain of volcanoes in the western United States, the expert explains.
The new discovery destroys theories that have been put forward about the Moon’s past. Earth-type volcanic activity is practically excluded due to the lack of water and the movement of the plates of our satellite. Now scientists are trying to explain how a large granite field could form in another way.
Source: Wprost
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