History of Earth’s formation can answer the questions of our scientists. The Moon has a very deep impact on the Earth, so scientists study its history as deeply as the history of the Earth. The formation of the Moon and its arrival in today’s state is a major subject of studies. A new study has shed light on the formation process of the Moon’s crust. Through this study, a new paradigm has been told that how this process was working on the surface of the Moon, which led to the formation of its crust.
liquid magma and crystals
Scientists from the University of Cambridge and the cole Normale Superior de Leon have proposed a new model of crystallization, where crystals lie in liquid magma for millions of years, and the same happened with the lunar crust in which magma solidified. .
This study, published in Geophysical Review Letters, states that this form of crystallization played a major role in the formation of the Moon’s crust. Fifty years ago, the passengers of Apollo 11 who went to the moon collected some samples from the land there and brought them to Earth with them.
This large yellow area of the Moon is visible even from Earth without a telescope. The rocks here are called anorthosites which are considered to be light rocks. These anorthosite rocks are said to have formed between 4.3 and 4.5 billion years ago in the history of the Moon. Similarly, anthracite formed from the crystallization of magma can also be seen in fossil magma of Earth.
Once upon a time, the entire Moon used to be an ocean of magma. (symbolic photo: shutterstock)
Collision of two embryo planets
Large-scale anorthosite formation on the Moon is possible only if there is a large global magma ocean there. Scientists believe that the Moon was formed when two embryonic planets called protoplanets collided. Of these two protoplanets, the larger one turned into a planet Earth and the smaller one became the Moon.
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was previously believed
One result of this collision was that the new moon was very hot. It was so hot that its entire mantle was molten magma, that is, it was an ocean of magma. Study co-author Colé Mishaw from the cole Normale Superior de Leon said since the Apollo era it was believed that the Moon’s crust would be composed of light anorthosite crystals floating on the surface of the magma ocean.
The study of moon rocks began with samples brought from NASA’s Apollo campaign. (Photo: NASA)
This floating pattern explains how the highlands of the Moon may have formed. But many lunar meteorites and the lunar surface have been studied since the Apollo missions. The anorthosite may have been more heterogeneously mixed in composition than the original Apollo samples. This contradicts the floating hypothesis, where the common source of all anorthosites is assumed to be the liquid ocean.
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While the age of anorthosite is around 200 million years ago, the ocean of liquid magma is said to be 100 million years old. This was the reason that the construction of the crust was considered under the second process. To solve this, this new mathematical model was created. Under which the crystals were lying in the form of suspension in the magma for a long time. Where there were more crystals on the surface, due to which such diversity is visible on the surface.