Tiny Glass Beads Reveal Lunar Volcanoes Were Active During Dinosaur Era

Chinese scientists have analyzed tiny glass beads brought back from the moon and discovered evidence of volcanic eruptions as recent as 120 million years ago, challenging previous estimates that volcanic activity on the moon ceased billions of years ago, ABC News reported. 

The evidence consists of three glass beads whose chemical composition suggests that lunar volcanoes were active until about 120 million years ago, significantly more recent than previously thought. Earlier analyses of rock samples from the Chang'e 5 mission indicated that lunar volcanic activity dwindled around 2 billion years ago, with prior estimates extending back to 4 billion years ago.

This research, published Thursday in the journal Science, was described as "a little bit unexpected" by Julie Stopar, a senior staff scientist with the Lunar and Planetary Institute, who was not involved in the study.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter suggested in 2014 that there might have been more recent volcanic activity, but these glass beads represent the first physical evidence, though further research is needed to confirm their origins.

The Chang'e 5 samples were the first moon rocks brought to Earth since the 1970s when NASA's Apollo missions and Soviet spacecraft collected lunar samples. In June, China also returned samples from the moon's far side.

Study co-author He Yuyang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences noted that this research could help us understand how long small planets and moons- including Earth-can remain volcanically active.

Researchers examined around 3,000 lunar glass beads, each smaller than a pinhead, and identified three that appeared to have originated from a volcanic eruption. Glass beads on the moon can form when molten droplets cool after volcanic activity or meteorite impacts.

Julie Stopar pointed out that the existing timeline suggested that the moon had cooled beyond the point of volcanic activity by the period indicated by the new research, emphasizing that this discovery should inspire further studies to understand how such late-stage volcanic activity could occur.

"It should inspire lots of other studies to try to understand how this could happen," she said.