Southward impact excavated magma ocean at the lunar South Pole-Aitken basin.

ABSTRACT: The ancient South Pole-Aitken impact basin provides a key data point for our understanding of the evolution of the Moon, as it formed during the earliest pre-Nectarian epoch of lunar history¹, excavated more deeply than any other known impact basin^2,3 and is found on the lunar far side, about which less is known than the well-explored near side. Here we show that the tapering of the basin outline and the more gradual topographic and crustal thickness transition towards the south support a southward impact trajectory, opposite of that commonly assumed. A broad thorium-rich and iron-rich ejecta deposit southwest of the basin is consistent with partial excavation of late-stage magma ocean liquids. These observations indicate that thorium-rich magma ocean liquids persiste

SUBMITTER: Andrews-Hanna JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12507655 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature