{"id":47438,"date":"2023-07-14T13:31:10","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T13:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/rare-granite-mass-found-under-lunar-surface-upending-understanding-of-earths-satellite"},"modified":"2023-07-14T13:44:43","modified_gmt":"2023-07-14T13:44:43","slug":"rare-granite-mass-found-under-lunar-surface-upending-understanding-of-earths-satellite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/rare-granite-mass-found-under-lunar-surface-upending-understanding-of-earths-satellite","title":{"rendered":"Rare Granite Mass Found Under Lunar Surface, Upending Understanding of Earth’s Satellite"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>While the moon is the only celestial body that humans have set foot on, there is still a lot we do not know about its composition and history.<\/p>\n

A massive blob of granite has been discovered under the surface of the moon, upending scientists’ understanding of our closest celestial neighbor.<\/p>\n

The traces of granite, which would be common on Earth, is evidence of a type of volcanic activity not previously thought to be on the moon, and scientists aren\u2019t sure yet how it got there.<\/p>\n

Analysis of the site suggests the rock formed from solidified magma, also known as a batholith, that formed roughly 3.5 billion years ago.<\/p>\n

Large bodies of granite on Earth are used to feed volcanoes, like the large system that feeds volcanoes in the Northwest region of the United States today.<\/p>\n

But what puzzles scientists is that the conditions necessary to create granite do not exist on the moon. On Earth, granite formation requires a large amount of water and plate tectonics which help the material from Earth\u2019s crust melt and be recycled since granite – unlike other volcanic materials – requires multiple re-meltings of basaltic rock.<\/p>\n

But since the moon doesn\u2019t have liquid water or plate tectonics, scientists are stumped on what created the granite.<\/p>\n

The granite blob was discovered by two Chinese orbiters, Chang\u2019e 1 and Chang’e 2. They detected a spot under a suspected volcano dubbed Compton-Belkovich, near the moon’s north pole on the far side, using their microwave sensor. The data was made publicly available and researchers at the Southern Methodist University were able to analyze it.<\/p>\n

The area is roughly 20 times hotter than the average for the lunar highlands.<\/b><\/p>\n

The Compton-Belkovich area is also notable because it has a large amount of thorium, which is a byproduct of radioactive decay, creating heat. Siegler and his team argue the heat anomaly can be explained by radioactive elements in the granite matrix.<\/p>\n

The team say this is evidence of a magma plumbing system under the lunar surface that would be much larger than expected.<\/b><\/p>\n

However, to create such a system would require one of three things – all of which are inconsistent with current models of the moon: a large mantle plume that feeds magma from inside the moon; an anomalous pocket of water in the area; or a patch of elements creating enough radioactive material to facilitate the heating and re-melting of basaltic rocks.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. While the moon is the only celestial body that humans have set foot on, there is still a lot we do not know about its composition and history. A massive blob of granite has been discovered under the surface of the moon, upending scientists’ understanding of our closest celestial neighbor. The traces […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":47437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,31],"tags":[760,763,758],"class_list":["post-47438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"\nRare Granite Mass Found Under Lunar Surface, Upending Understanding of Earth's Satellite - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While the moon is the only celestial body that humans have set foot on, there is still a lot we do not know about its co ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/rare-granite-mass-found-under-lunar-surface-upending-understanding-of-earths-satellite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rare Granite Mass Found Under Lunar Surface, Upending Understanding of Earth's Satellite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While the moon is the only celestial body that humans have set foot on, there is still a lot we do not know about its co ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/rare-granite-mass-found-under-lunar-surface-upending-understanding-of-earths-satellite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-14T13:31:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-14T13:44:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/07\/sm_1689329594.395958.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/rare-granite-mass-found-under-lunar-surface-upending-understanding-of-earths-satellite#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/rare-granite-mass-found-under-lunar-surface-upending-understanding-of-earths-satellite\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Rare Granite Mass Found Under Lunar Surface, Upending Understanding of Earth’s Satellite\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-14T13:31:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-14T13:44:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/rare-granite-mass-found-under-lunar-surface-upending-understanding-of-earths-satellite\"},\"wordCount\":430,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/rare-granite-mass-found-under-lunar-surface-upending-understanding-of-earths-satellite#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/07\/sm_1689329594.395958.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Rwanda\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/rare-granite-mass-found-under-lunar-surface-upending-understanding-of-earths-satellite#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/rare-granite-mass-found-under-lunar-surface-upending-understanding-of-earths-satellite\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/rare-granite-mass-found-under-lunar-surface-upending-understanding-of-earths-satellite\",\"name\":\"Rare Granite Mass Found Under Lunar Surface, Upending Understanding of Earth's Satellite - 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