Granite is thought to be virtually nonexistent outside of Earth. However, there’s one problem with that belief: we just found granite on the Moon, and nobody knows how it got there.
Glacier is one of the top choices for counters in the world. However, it’s been difficult to locate anywhere else within our solar system. That’s because of how it is made. See, normally, granite needs plate tectonics or water-bearing magmas in order to form, as a geologist at Stony Brook University recently explained to Mashable.
In previous years, some granite pieces were found in lunar samples. However, the amount of granite in those samples has been extremely small, especially when compared to the more than 800 pounds of lunar soil and rock taken for sampling. So how is it that a huge cache of granite came to be on the Moon?
There are many theories on how the Moon was formed. One of them is that a young Earth, hit by an object the size of Mars, ejected enough matter and mass to create the Moon. It would then orbit the Earth for many years. That isn’t really a proper explanation, though.
What caused this? It wasn’t caused by plate tectonics because no proof of it has ever been discovered on the Moon. There is some evidence to suggest that ancient volcanic eruptions and magma once ruined the Moon. In fact, many of the dark spots that you see on the moon, like the spots that make up the “moon’s face,” are believed to have come from magma pooling and flowing on the lunar surface.
New research on the discovery was published in the science journal Nature this month, and it suggests that the cache they have discovered is roughly 30 miles wide. NASA has plans to explore the area in 2026 using a next-generation lunar rover. This area could also be used as a research target during future Artemis lunar missions.
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