Chinese Scientists Tackle the Riddle of Lunar Magnetic Anomalies

Lunar crustThe researchers behind the new study point at “large-impact events” on the lunar surface as a likely origin of magnetic particles that were found on the Moon.A new study conducted by scientists from China has shed light on magnetic anomalies detected on Earth’s only natural satellite, the Moon.The research, led by Zhuang Guo from the Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences which was recently published in the journal Nature Communications, pointed at the presence of magnetite in the samples of lunar soil retrieved by China’s Chang’e 5 probe that visited the Moon in 2020.Noting the morphology of the iron-sulfide grains in the Chang’e 5 samples, which contained the magnetite particles, the authors of the study argued that it was likely a product of “large-impact events” on the lunar surface.“This could provide an effective method to form ubiquitous sub-microscopic magnetite in fine lunar soils and be a contributor to the presentation of ferric iron on the surface of the Moon,” the researchers wrote. “Additionally, the formation of sub-microscopic magnetite and metallic iron by eutectoid reaction may provide an alternative way for the formation of magnetic anomalies observed on the Moon.”The team thus identified ferromagnetic materials brought by the aforementioned impact events, and “magnetization of the ferromagnetic minerals in the presence of external magnetic fields,” as key factors in the generation of magnetic anomalies on the surface of the Moon.Science & TechMoon Formed in Mere Hours After Catastrophic Collision of Planets, New Study Suggests6 October, 14:32 GMT“These formation conditions result in a matching relationship between the magnetic anomaly distribution in the lunar crust and the distal ejecta of large impacts,” the researchers surmised in their paper.

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