Chinese scientists have claimed that about 120 million years ago, volcanic eruptions were taking place on the moon. Scientists have made this claim after studying small glass-like pieces brought from the moon. According to ABC News, when the dinosaur era was going on on Earth, volcanic eruptions were also taking place on the moon at the same time. The chemical composition found in the glass pieces has revealed that rivers of lava once flowed on the moon.
Earlier, the pieces of rocks brought under the Chang’e 5 mission had revealed that there must have been volcanic eruptions on the moon about 2 billion years ago. However, the new study has proved it wrong. The research published in the journal Science says that it is certainly unexpected but there is every possibility that there must have been fire-spitting volcanoes on the moon 120 million years ago.
Earlier in 2014, NASA’s orbiter discovered that volcanic eruptions have occurred on the moon and glass beads are present on the moon. Under the Chang’e 5 mission, pieces of rock from the moon were brought to Earth for the first time after the Apollo mission. He Yuyang, a scientist of this research, said that this will help in understanding for how long volcanoes were active on the moon, Earth and other planets.
Scientists studied at least 3 thousand glass beads. After this it was found that they originated due to volcanic eruption. These pieces were formed after the volcano erupted on the moon and then cooled down. Recently, China’s spacecraft Chang E 6 has returned with samples from the moon. It has brought samples from that part of the moon which cannot be seen from the earth. This lander landed on the moon on June 1. After collecting the samples, the lander launched the ascend module from there. These samples were transferred to Chang E 6. After this, these samples were delivered to the earth.