Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Shea, Erin K.
• Weiss, Benjamin P.
• Cassata, William S.
• Shuster, David L.
• Tikoo, Sonia M.
• Gattacceca, Jérôme
• Grove, Timothy L.
• Fuller, Michael D.

Titel

A Long-Lived Lunar Core Dynamo

Ist Teil von

• Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), 2012-01, Vol.335 (6067), p.453-456

Ort / Verlag

Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2012

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Paleomagnetic measurements indicate that a core dynamo probably existed on the Moon 4.2 billion years ago. However, the subsequent history of the lunar core dynamo is unknown.Here we report paleomagnetic, petrologic, and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar thermochronometry measurements on the 3.7-billion-year-old mare basalt sample 10020. This sample contains a high-coercivity magnetization acquired in a stable field of at least ~ 12 microteslas. These data extend the known lifetime of the lunar dynamo by 500 million years. Such a long-lived lunar dynamo probably required a power source other than thermochemical convection from secular cooling of the lunar interior. The inferred strong intensity of the lunar paleofield presents a challenge to current dynamo theory.