日批在线视频_内射毛片内射国产夫妻_亚洲三级小视频_在线观看亚洲大片短视频_女性向h片资源在线观看_亚洲最大网

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
China
Home / China / Innovation

Research suggests causes of moon's two different 'faces'

By Li Menghan | China Daily | Updated: 2026-01-13 09:21
Share
Share - WeChat

For decades, scientists have puzzled over why the two sides of the moon look so different.

The "near side", which faces Earth, is covered in dark, flat volcanic plains, while the "far side" is a rugged, mountainous landscape with little volcanic activity.

New research published on Tuesday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests one possibility lies in a cataclysmic space crash billions of years ago that literally baked the far side of the moon, stripping away the ingredients needed for volcanoes to form.

This mystery is known to experts as the lunar dichotomy. To the naked eye, the side we see from Earth looks like a "man in the moon" because of its smooth lava flows, but the far side has a much thicker crust and very few of those smooth spots. To solve this mystery, researchers from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences analyzed tiny samples — about the weight of a few grains of salt — brought back by the Chang'e 6 mission. This was a historic mission because it collected the first-ever rocks from the moon's far side, specifically from a massive crater called the South Pole-Aitken basin.

The team, led by professor Tian Hengci, looked at a specific chemical element called potassium. Potassium comes in different weights, known as isotopes. When something incredibly hot happens — like a massive asteroid hitting the moon — the lighter versions of potassium evaporate into space more easily than the heavier ones.

The researchers discovered that the samples from the far side were packed with heavy potassium isotopes, which act as a chemical fingerprint. It indicates that when a giant object slammed into the moon to create the South Pole-Aitken basin, the heat was so intense that it caused "volatile" elements — chemicals like potassium (lighter versions), zinc, and sulfur that turn into gas easily — to vaporize into space.

This loss of chemicals had a permanent effect on the moon's geology because volatile elements help lower the melting point of rocks deep inside a planet. Without them, the moon's interior stays stiff.

Because the far side lost some of these easy to melt elements during that ancient crash, it struggled to produce the magma needed for volcanic eruptions. This explains why the near side stayed volcanically active for longer, while the far side became a dormant, mountainous wasteland.

"The findings suggest that asteroid impacts do more than just leave a dent on the surface; they can fundamentally change the chemistry of a planet's guts," Tian said.

"While other theories suggest the moon's unevenness was caused by Earth's gravity or uneven radioactive heating, this new evidence highlights the profound influence of giant space crashes in shaping the worlds of our solar system," he added.

Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1994 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
 
主站蜘蛛池模板: 日韩三级视频在线播放 | 久久久www成人免费精品 | 国产青青操 | 伊人久久青青草 | 天天干天天插天天射 | 国产精成人品免费观看 | 国内精品视频一区 | 青青操网| 亚洲图片另类小说 | 国产午夜精品久久久久久久 | 青青草欧美 | 日韩毛片网 | 欧美成人免费在线视频 | 国产香蕉97碰碰碰视频在线观看 | 日韩中文字幕视频在线观看 | 国产精品一区在线观看 | 91麻豆精品一二三区在线 | 久久五月天婷婷 | 久久久久久中文字幕 | 日本www黄| 一区二区三区免费在线视频 | 日韩综合在线观看 | 午夜免费成人 | xxx日本黄色 | 天天爽天天操 | 国产乱淫av麻豆国产免费 | 国产高清免费视频 | 国产成人二区 | 永久免费看成人av的动态图 | 成人午夜免费观看 | 日韩一级在线视频 | 成人av一区二区三区 | 精品免费一区二区三区 | 欧美午夜精品久久久久久浪潮 | 日日夜夜精品免费 | 日韩高清一级 | 日韩免费视频一区二区视频在线观看 | 成年人的毛片 | 你懂的网址在线观看 | 伊人激情视频 | 绿帽av|