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.

中文翻译：

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返回的样本表明1.2亿年前月球上发生过火山活动


有大量地质证据表明月球上有古代火山活动，但尚不清楚火山活动持续了多久。岩浆喷泉产生火山玻璃，此前曾在月球表面样本中发现过这种玻璃。我们调查了嫦娥五号任务收集的月球土壤样本中的约 3000 颗玻璃珠，并根据其质地、化学成分和硫同位素鉴定出其中三颗玻璃珠源自火山。对三颗火山玻璃珠的铀铅测年表明，它们形成于 123±1500 万年前。我们在这些火山玻璃珠中测量到了高丰度的稀土元素和钍，这可能表明最近的火山活动与岩浆地幔源中发热元素的局部富集有关。