Constraining 2.0 Ga Volcanism on the Moon via <sup>40</sup>Ar/<sup>39</sup>Ar Dating of Chang'e‐5 Basalts
Abstract The Chang'e‐5 landing site provides an important window into the Moon's late Eratosthenian period of volcanism at ∼2 Ga. Clarifying the Moon's history of volcanic activity using radioisotopic dating assists investigations of the evolution of the lunar surface as well as the Moon's internal dynamics. Recent chronological investigations of Chang'e‐5 basalts produced ages spanning ∼100 Ma, thereby inhibiting interpretation of the duration of volcanism recorded in the returned samples. We used microcomputed tomography and Back‐Scatter Electron imaging to characterize the structure and morphology of nine Chang'e‐5 basalt clasts. Several basalt clasts lack shock features and are interpreted to have not been significantly thermally disturbed. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar incremental heating produced well defined plateaus for four sub‐split samples that give a weighted mean age of 2,021 ± 17 Ma (2σ). These are among the youngest mare basalts to be dated thus far by the 40 Ar/ 39 Ar method and, when combined with most of the published Pb‐Pb ages for Chang'e‐5 basalts, define a single episode of mare volcanism at ∼2,021 Ma.
Authors
- Xuhang Zhang
- Shuhui Cai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1607-3477)
- Hua‐Ning Qiu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4971-3664)
- Fei Su (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1636-7259)
- Saihong Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2380-4338)
- Wanfeng Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6481-6162)
- Qin Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8562-9737)
- Runchuan Liu
- Wen Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6575-547X)
- Huaiyu He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4887-5274)
- Qiuli Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7280-5508)
- Youjuan Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1126-3258)
- Brian R. Jicha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1228-515X)
- K. H. Joy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4992-8750)
- Liekun Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4881-6389)
- Junjie Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0935-0328)
- Xian‐Hua Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5512-7736)
- Yi Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6167-8032)
Institutions
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Ministry of Natural Resources (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences (CN)
- University of Manchester (GB)
- Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry (CN)
- China University of Geosciences (CN)
- Institute of Geology and Geophysics (CN)
- Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology (CN)
- National Astronomical Observatories (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Geophysical Research Planets
- Published
- 2025-02-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2024je008495
- Primary Topic
- Planetary Science and Exploration
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Science and Technology Facilities Council