A South Pole–Aitken impact origin of the lunar compositional asymmetry

Author:

Jones Matt J.1ORCID,Evans Alexander J.1ORCID,Johnson Brandon C.23ORCID,Weller Matthew B.14ORCID,Andrews-Hanna Jeffrey C.5ORCID,Tikoo Sonia M.6ORCID,Keane James T.7ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Brown University, Box 1846, 324 Brook Street, Providence, RI 02912, USA.

2. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.

3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.

4. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX 77058, USA.

5. Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.

6. Department of Geophysics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

7. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.

Abstract

The formation of the largest and most ancient lunar impact basin, South Pole–Aitken (SPA), was a defining event in the Moon’s evolution. Using numerical simulations, we show that widespread mantle heating from the SPA impact can catalyze the formation of the long-lived nearside-farside lunar asymmetry in incompatible elements and surface volcanic deposits, which has remained unexplained since its discovery in the Apollo era. The impact-induced heat drives hemisphere-scale mantle convection, which would sequester Th- and Ti-rich lunar magma ocean cumulates in the nearside hemisphere within a few hundred million years if they remain immediately beneath the lunar crust at the time of the SPA impact. A warm initial upper mantle facilitates generation of a pronounced compositional asymmetry consistent with the observed lunar asymmetry.

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Subject

Multidisciplinary

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