Why the two sides of the moon are so different has long puzzled space scientists. However, a study published last week in the journal Science Advances provided a new explanation for this lunar mystery. The researchers found that the impact that formed the basin would have created a huge cloud of heat that spreads inside the moon, according to the statement. This plume would have carried some material to the nearby side of the moon, feeding the volcanic eruption that created the volcanic plains. “We know that big impacts like the one created by the SPA would create a lot of heat,” said Matt Jones, a PhD candidate at Brown University and lead author of the study, in a press release. “The question is how this heat affects the internal dynamics of the Moon. What we are showing is that under any reasonable circumstances at the time the SPA was formed, it ends up collecting these elements that produce heat on the nearby side. “We expect this to have contributed to the melting of the mantle that produced the lava flows we see on the surface.” The volcanic plains near the moon host a group of elements such as potassium, rare earth elements, phosphorus among others – known as Procellarum KREEP terrane (PKT) which are rare elsewhere on the moon. The researchers conducted computer simulations of how the heat generated by a giant impact would change the heat transfer patterns inside the Moon and how this could redistribute KREEP material into the lunar mantle. According to their model, the KREEP material would have led the heat wave coming from the impact zone “like a surfer”, whether the impact was a direct hit or just grazed on the moon. As the heat cloud spread beneath the moon’s crust, this material eventually delivered to the nearby side. “How the PKT was formed is arguably the most important open-ended question in lunar science,” Jones told the news bulletin. “And the South Pole-Aitken collision is one of the most important events in lunar history. This work brings these two things together and I think our results are really exciting.”
