What’s Causing the Mysterious Swirls on the Moon?

New lab experiment confirms mysterious light-colored swirls on surfaces moon They may be rocks that have been magnetized by underground magmatic activity.

The moon’s swirls have long been a mystery. Recent models and spacecraft data shed light on the mystery. Rocks in the vortex are magnetized and deflect solar wind particles, Protecting nearby rocks, which darken over time from chemical reactions caused by these collisions, the vortices remain clear.

How are rocks in the lunar vortex magnetized?

The Moon currently lacks a magnetic field. No astronauts or explorers have visited the lunar vortices to investigate. “An impact could cause these magnetic anomalies,” said Michael J. Krawczynski, an associate professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Meteorites often leave iron-rich material in areas of the lunar surface, Krawczynski said, but in some vortices, it’s hard to understand how an impact could have created these specific shapes and sizes.

It also suggests there may be another cause. “Another theory is There is underground lava “When it cools slowly in a magnetic field, it creates magnetic anomalies,” said Krawczynski, who designed experiments to test this hypothesis. The results of these experiments were published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

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Klauczynski and Yuanyuan Liang, lead author of the study and a PhD candidate in geosciences, measured how different combinations of atmospheric chemistry and magma cooling rates affected the mineral ilmenite. Their goal was to see whether these conditions would produce a magnetizing effect. “Rocks on Earth are easily magnetized by magnetite, a magnetic mineral,” Krawczynski explained. The Moon, however, lacks this mineral.

The moon is rich in ilmenite. It can also form iron metal particles Krawczynski and his team found that, under the right conditions, “smaller particles produce stronger magnetic fields because the ratio of surface area to volume is greater,” Liang explained.

Experiments have shown that under lunar conditions, They can create magnetizable materials. “These vortices are likely caused by underground magma,” concluded Krawczynski, a member of the university’s McDonald Center for Space Sciences.

Future lunar missions

Identifying the origin of lunar swirls is key Understanding the processes that shaped the lunar surface The research will help interpret data from future lunar missions, such as NASA’s Lunar Vertex mission, which will send a rover to the Reiner Gamma region in 2025 to explore magnetic anomalies on the lunar surface.

“If the described method is to produce magnetic anomalies, the underground magma must have a high titanium content,” Krawczynski pointed out. Reactions in lunar meteorites and Apollo program samples. “Our research suggests that subsurface cooling should significantly enhance these metal-forming reactions.”

Currently, Krawczynski’s experiment represents The best way to test underground lava Magnetic effects that may be driving the lunar vortex.

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