^1,2Wang, Bi-Wen et al. (>10)
Science 385, 1077-1080 Link to Article [DOI: 10.1126/science.adk6635]
¹State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric and Environmental Coevolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China.
²College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Reprinted with permission from AAAS

There is extensive geologic evidence of ancient volcanic activity on the Moon, but it is unclear how long that volcanism persisted. Magma fountains produce volcanic glasses, which have previously been found in samples of the Moon’s surface. We investigated ~3000 glass beads in lunar soil samples collected by the Chang’e-5 mission and identified three as having a volcanic origin on the basis of their textures, chemical compositions, and sulfur isotopes. Uranium-lead dating of the three volcanic glass beads shows that they formed 123 ± 15 million years ago. We measured high abundances of rare earth elements and thorium in these volcanic glass beads, which could indicate that such recent volcanism was related to local enrichment of heat-generating elements in the mantle sources of the magma.