The surface of the moon is hundreds of millions of years older than scientists previously thought
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Ancient rock: The moon’s surface is hundreds of millions of years older than scientists previously thought
- A crater on the moon was created millions of years earlier than previously thought
- The crater was created by a collision with an asteroid the size of Sicily
The surface of the moon is much older than experts previously estimated.
The discovery means they have a better understanding of when the crater landscape ended up like this.
The researchers point to a giant indentation called the Imbrium Basin, which is believed to be one of the largest craters in our solar system, as an example of their findings.
It likely originated from the collision of an asteroid the size of Sicily, and the team now says it dates to 4.1 billion years ago instead of 3.9 billion years ago as originally believed.
The researchers from Norway and France say they have found a way to coordinate different systems for dating the surface of Earth’s satellite, including using rock samples from the Apollo landings.
A giant crater on the surface of the moon was probably created by an asteroid that collided with it 4.1 billion years ago (File photo: The surface of the moon with the Earth behind it)
Presenting the work at the Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference in Lyon, Professor Stephanie Werner from the Center for Planetary Habitability, University of Oslo, said: ‘What we’ve done is show that large parts of the lunar crust are about 200 million years older than formerly. thought.’
The researchers emphasize that their findings do not change the estimates of the age of the moon itself, but only the estimate of its surface and the time when giant space debris impacted it.
Professor Werner said: ‘This is an important difference. It allows us to push back in time an intense period of bombardment from space that we now know occurred before extensive volcanic activity.
“Since this happened on the moon, Earth was almost certainly affected by this earlier bombardment.”
New research suggests the Imbrium Basin formed 4.1 billion years ago instead of 3.9 billion years ago as previously thought (File photo: Craters on the Moon)