Study finds the moon had active volcanoes during the dinosaur age

Surprisingly Recent Volcanic Eruptions on the Moon Reveal Activity Even During the Time of Earth’s Dinosaurs

TL;DR

New research indicates that volcanic activity on the Moon persisted until 120 million years ago, overlapping with the age of Earth’s dinosaurs. Three volcanic glass beads collected by the Chang’e-5 lunar mission in 2020 provided evidence of these eruptions, challenging prior assumptions that lunar volcanism ceased 2 billion years ago. This discovery suggests that small celestial bodies, like the Moon, could retain enough internal heat to sustain volcanic activity for longer than expected. The findings raise questions about the Moon’s heat sources and could inspire future missions to investigate these volcanic origins.

After reading the article, Reddit user Emily gained over 649 upvotes with this comment: “Would they have been visible erupting from Earth? Cool stuff.” Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comment section below—what do you think about the possibility of recent volcanic eruptions on the Moon?

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New research indicates that volcanoes were still erupting on the Moon during the time of Earth’s dinosaurs, suggesting lunar volcanic activity occurred much more recently than previously thought.

According to a study published Thursday in the journal Science, three tiny glass beads collected from the Moon’s surface in 2020 by a Chinese probe show evidence of volcanic activity on the Moon as recent as 120 million years ago.

Earlier analyses of samples from the Chang’e-5 lunar mission had concluded that volcanic activity ceased about 2 billion years ago, revising previous beliefs that lunar volcanoes had been inactive for around 4 billion years.

The researchers studied roughly 3,000 lunar glass beads, which can be formed either by volcanic eruptions or meteorite impacts. Of these, three were identified as volcanic in origin based on their textures and chemical composition.

The study’s research team expressed being “surprised and excited” by this “unexpected” finding.

The discovery of recent volcanic activity on the Moon “implies that small celestial bodies, such as the Moon, could maintain sufficient heat to sustain internal vitality until the very late stage,” explained Professor Li Qiu-Li and Associate Professor He Yuyang of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who co-authored the study, in an email.

However, the study noted that it remains “unclear” how the Moon could have stayed volcanically active for such an extended period.

Qian Yuqi, a researcher specializing in planetary volcanism at the University of Hong Kong, highlighted that finding such relatively young volcanoes has “significant” implications for understanding the Moon’s evolution.

“Where are their sources?” Qian, who did not participate in the research, asked in an email. “It may drive new missions in the future to look for them.”

The Chang’e-5 lunar mission marked the first return of lunar samples since the U.S. Apollo program and the Soviet Luna 24 mission in the 1970s. In June, China made history by becoming the first country to retrieve rocks from the Moon’s far side with its Chang’e-6 mission.