Study finds active volcanoes on the moon up until the age of dinosaurs

Three glass marbles brought back by a Chinese space probe suggest that volcanic activity existed on the moon up until about 120 million years ago, much longer than previously thought. New research suggests that volcanoes continued to erupt on the moon when dinosaurs were on Earth, for much longer than previously thought.

Three small glass marbles retrieved from the lunar surface by a Chinese probe in 2020 suggest that volcanic activity occurred on the moon 120 million years ago, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science. Previous analysis of samples brought back by the Chang’e-5 lunar probe concluded that volcanic activity stopped about 2 billion years ago, updating previous estimates that the moon had no active volcanoes for about 4 billion years and revealing more.

The researchers examined about 3,000 moonglass beads that could have been formed by volcanic eruptions or meteorite impacts. Three of them were determined to be of volcanic origin based on their nature and chemical composition. The research team behind the study was “surprised and excited” by this “unexpected” discovery. The existence of such young volcanism on the Moon “means that a small celestial body like the Moon can maintain enough heat to sustain its internal vitality until late stages,” said Li Qiu-li, professor of geology, and He Yu-yang, associate professor of geophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, two of the co-authors, in an email.

However, it is still “unclear” how the Moon could have sustained volcanic activity for such a long period of time, the article said. Qian Yuqi, a planetary volcanologist at the University of Hong Kong, said the discovery of such relatively young volcanoes has “significant” implications for the evolution of the Moon. “What is the source of the information?” Qian, who is not involved in the investigation, asked in an email. “This may spark new missions to search for them in the future.”