^1,2,3Haiyang Xian et al. (>10)
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2025.119556]
¹State Key Laboratory of Deep Earth Processes and Resources, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, PR China
²Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mineral Physics and Materials, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, PR China
³Center for Advanced Planetary Science (CAPS), Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, PR China
Copyright Elsevier

Recent discoveries regarding oxidized materials on the moon have challenged the traditional belief that the moon is highly reduced. The oxidized materials occur in either crystalline minerals or glasses, and the complex occurrence makes the origin of these oxidized lunar materials still unclear. Here we report a highly oxidized impact melt clast retrieved by Chang’e 6 mission from the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin. The impact melt clast hosts a high content of ferric iron (Fe³⁺) in matrix pigeonite with an Fe³⁺/∑Fe ratio of 0.44 ± 0.06, while xenocryst pyroxene only contains ferrous (Fe²⁺) iron. The observed high Fe³⁺ content indicates that the oxidation state of the local impact clast is even more oxidized than that of Earth’s mantle. The widespread presence of non-spherical Fe-Ni alloy nanoparticles in the impact melt clast suggests that the oxidized materials may have been delivered to the moon by meteorite. These findings reveal an external source of oxidized materials on the moon, emphasizing the potential role of meteoritic materials in the redox cycling of the lunar surface.