Mysterious swirling patterns observed on the moon’s surface may be linked to subterranean magma activity, a new study suggests.
“lunar whirlwinds” observed on the Moon show a spiral pattern created by magnetized rocks that deflect or redirect Solar wind particles that constantly bombard the moon. Moon rocks that are caught in the lunar eddies remain brightly colored, while neighboring rocks that are not – and which have therefore been affected by charged particles from the sun — appear to undergo a chemical reaction that makes them appear darker, according to a statement from Washington University in St. Louis.
However, given The moon no classics magnetic field alone, the researchers had to look for another source that could magnetize the lunar vortices, which in some areas can stretch for hundreds of miles, according to images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).
“Shocks can cause these types of magnetic anomalies. But there are some vortices where we’re just not sure how the impact could create that shape and that size of something,” Michael J. Krawczynski, co-author of the study and associate professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, the statement said. “Another theory is that there are lavas underground that cool slowly in the magnetic field and creating the magnetic anomaly.”
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“Shocks can cause these types of magnetic anomalies. But there are some eddies where we’re just not sure how the impact could create that shape and that size of something,” Michael J. Krawczynski, co-author of the study and associate professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, the statement said. “Another theory is that there are lavas underground that cool slowly in the magnetic field and creating the magnetic anomaly.”
Using a mineral called ilmenite, which is abundant on the moon, the researchers sought to replicate the magnetizing effect. They study the reaction between ilmenite and various combinations of atmospheric chemistry and magmatic cooling velocities to create metallic iron particles that can be magnetized.
“Our analog experiments showed that under lunar conditions we could create the magnetizing material we needed. So it’s plausible that these eddies are caused by subsurface magma” Krawczynski said in the statement, noting that the subsurface magma must have a high titanium content for the results to be true. “We saw hints of this reaction creating metallic iron in the lunar meteorites and in lunar samples from Apollo. But all of these samples are surface lava flows, and our study shows that cooling underground must have greatly enhanced these metal-forming reactions.”
Understanding the origin of lunar vortices offers new clues about the processes that shaped the lunar surface and the history of the moon’s magnetic field. NASA plans to send a rover to a lunar vortex called Reiner Gamma in 2025 as part of Mission Lunar Vertexwhich will allow researchers to examine these surface features up close.
“If we could just drill through, we could see if this reaction is happening,” Krawczynski said in the statement. “That would be great, but it’s not possible yet. Right now we’re stuck with the surface.”
Their findings were posted on May 20 in Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.
