Scientists
initially suspected, volcanic activity on the Moon was dead about 1
billion years ago. However, the data from the Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter (LRO) of the United States Space Agency or NASA shows the lava
flows on the surface of Earth satellites may be less than 100 million
years ago.
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| Called Maskelyne, this feature is one of many newly discovered young volcanic rock deposits on the moon. These deposits are known as irregular mare patches and they are thought to be remnants of small basaltic eruptions. (Picture from: http://bit.ly/1ziQ1dh) |
"This
finding is a kind of knowledge, literally, will make geologists rewrite
their books that discuss about the Moon," said John Keller, the LRO
project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,
Maryland, USA, as quoted from SPACE on Thursday, October 15, 2014.
When
orbiting the Moon in 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts take pictures of
volcanic deposits on the surface of the earth satellite, called Ina. The
researchers suspect, Ina is still very young and may have formed in a
local explosion of volcanic activity, even though most of the Moon
volcanism occurred between 3.5 billion to 1 billion years ago.
But
now, the photos of the LRO satellite - the orbiter which arrived at the
Moon in 2009 - showed Ina is not alone. It had a lot of 'friends'. The
scientists found 70 similar pattern in dark volcanic plains on the Moon
which faces the Earth.
The
unique rock deposit is also called irregular mare patches. Mare is a
vast basalt plains and dark on the Moon, formed by the freezing of the
magma flooding due to ancient volcanic eruption processes several
billion years ago.
Their
existence is characterized by rounded mounds that look smooth bulge
mixed with coarse, rock formations with size is less than 500 meters.
Too small to be seen with the naked eye from the Earth.
These
findings indicate that the volcanic activity on the Moon spreads in a
relatively not so long ago - at least in terms of geology. Three
deposits estimated age of less than 100 million years. And Ina probably
was less than 50 million years.
The
scientists conducted a study with the techniques which associate the
measurement of the Moon crater with the age of Moon dust samples that
taken during the Apollo missions and the Soviet Union's Luna robotic
missions. The findings are described in detail in the Nature Geoscience
on October 12, 2014.
The deposit findings could also change the way of scientists think about the temperature of the inside or interior of the Moon.
"The
presence and age of irregular mare patches informs that the coats of
Moon must have been pretty hot, allowing the magma comes out in
small-volume eruptions that created the feature," said Sarah Braden from
Arizona State University who led the study. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | LIVESCIENCE | SPACE.COM]
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