MEXICO: Chinese scientists, based on ground-penetrating radar measurements by country’s first lunar rover Yutu aka Jade Rabbit, have claimed that the Moon could have at least nine layers beneath its surface hinting at the possibility of multiple geologic processes on Earth’s natural satellite.
“We have for the first time detected multiple subsurface layers (on the Moon),” said lead author Xiao Long, professor of the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, attributing these layers to ancient lava flows and the weathering of rocks and boulders into regolith, or loose layers of dust, over the past 3.3 billion years or so.
One of the most interesting findings is a layer at depths of 140 metres to 240 metres, said Xiao, who is also professor of Macau University of Science and Technology, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
“We think this layer is probably pyroclastic rocks which formed during the course of volcanic eruptions,” Xiao told Xinhua via email.
“It reveals the diversity of volcanic activity, but what’s more important is that it shows there are plenty of volatile contents inside the moon.”
Yutu is part of China’s Chang’e-3 moon mission, which delivered the rover and a stationary lander to the lunar surface on December 14, 2013, marking the first moon landing since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976.
It touched down on the northern Mare Imbrium, also called Sea of Rains, a region not directly sampled before and far from the US Apollo and Luna landings sites.
Yutu traveled a total of 114 metres following a zigzagging route, then came to a halt about 20 meters to the southwest of the landing site due to mechanical problems.
So the rover just surveyed a small area using two radar antennas capable of penetrating the Moon’s crust to depths of about 400 metres, the report said.
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