In this "hot spot" is a radioactive thorium concentration is between two old and large craters Belkovich and Compton 
The discovery will force change some ideas about the history of the Moon (Foto: Especial Science Daily )
Scientists have detected a volcanic province created by a silicic magma upwelling of the Moon, by analyzing images captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft.
The researchers noted in an interview with Science Daily, this "new hot spot" in the face farthest from the moon gives new clues about the history of the Earth satellite.
In this "hot spot" is a radioactive thorium concentration is between two old and large craters, Compton and Belkovich, which was detected by a gamma-ray spectrometer in 1998. This "anomaly" as it was called then, looks like a "bull's eye" when the data from the spectrometer are placed on a map, with the highest density of thorium in its center.
Recent observations with the LRO cameras allowed scientists to distinguish volcanic features in the center of that eye. Thanks to 3D terrain models, has been, moreover, is a very rare silicic volcanism.
The center of the "bull's eye", then, is a small volcanic complex, 25 to 35 kilometers, which is 162 and 214 kilometers away from the craters of Compton and Belkovich respectively.
The discovery will force change some ideas about the history of the Moon, according to Bradley Jolliff, University of Washington.
"This relatively recent volcanic activity reminds us of thermal and volcanic evolution of the moon," said Jolliff, who co-authored the article in Nature Geoscience.
The story providedUntil now it was thought that lunar volcanism is very different from Earth because the satellite was a body that was quenched in 100 million years after they fell off the Earth, 4 thousand 500 million years. It happened when a body like Mars collided with our planet. The cooling prevented there developed plate tectonics that there is in the crust.
As you lose temperature, light mineral (as feldspar) crystallized and led to the Rocky Mountains of the Moon, and the most dense (rich in magnesium and iron) sank, forming the upper lunar mantle. Made between 3 000 and 4000 years, the basaltic lavas surfaced over a long period of volcanism, but it is a mystery the unequal distribution of these flood basalts on the satellite. In fact, long the lunar territory has been divided into only two categories: hard seas and the light of the mountains.
However, this simple picture began to change in 2000 when the team of Jolliff identified a region withother distinct geological history, called "Procellarum KREEP '(PKT). Would be the place where this 'hot spot' with a lot of thorium and other radioactive elements like potassium and uranium.
"As the magma cools, elements such as thorium is not crystallized and formed pockets intercalated between the crust and mantle. This concentration of elements with hot under the PKT could be responsible for the intensive volcanism different," said the scientist.
Thus, although most of the volcanism was basaltic another more rare was the face of the moon with silica-rich lavas. These deposits are called "hot spots", because that is seen in the spectrometer and its composition has been confirmed by the LRO.
The discovery will force change some ideas about the history of the Moon (Foto: Especial Science Daily )
Wednesday July 27, 2011 Redacción | El Universal00:17
The researchers noted in an interview with Science Daily, this "new hot spot" in the face farthest from the moon gives new clues about the history of the Earth satellite.
In this "hot spot" is a radioactive thorium concentration is between two old and large craters, Compton and Belkovich, which was detected by a gamma-ray spectrometer in 1998. This "anomaly" as it was called then, looks like a "bull's eye" when the data from the spectrometer are placed on a map, with the highest density of thorium in its center.
Recent observations with the LRO cameras allowed scientists to distinguish volcanic features in the center of that eye. Thanks to 3D terrain models, has been, moreover, is a very rare silicic volcanism.
The center of the "bull's eye", then, is a small volcanic complex, 25 to 35 kilometers, which is 162 and 214 kilometers away from the craters of Compton and Belkovich respectively.
The discovery will force change some ideas about the history of the Moon, according to Bradley Jolliff, University of Washington.
"This relatively recent volcanic activity reminds us of thermal and volcanic evolution of the moon," said Jolliff, who co-authored the article in Nature Geoscience.
The story providedUntil now it was thought that lunar volcanism is very different from Earth because the satellite was a body that was quenched in 100 million years after they fell off the Earth, 4 thousand 500 million years. It happened when a body like Mars collided with our planet. The cooling prevented there developed plate tectonics that there is in the crust.
As you lose temperature, light mineral (as feldspar) crystallized and led to the Rocky Mountains of the Moon, and the most dense (rich in magnesium and iron) sank, forming the upper lunar mantle. Made between 3 000 and 4000 years, the basaltic lavas surfaced over a long period of volcanism, but it is a mystery the unequal distribution of these flood basalts on the satellite. In fact, long the lunar territory has been divided into only two categories: hard seas and the light of the mountains.
However, this simple picture began to change in 2000 when the team of Jolliff identified a region withother distinct geological history, called "Procellarum KREEP '(PKT). Would be the place where this 'hot spot' with a lot of thorium and other radioactive elements like potassium and uranium.
"As the magma cools, elements such as thorium is not crystallized and formed pockets intercalated between the crust and mantle. This concentration of elements with hot under the PKT could be responsible for the intensive volcanism different," said the scientist.
Thus, although most of the volcanism was basaltic another more rare was the face of the moon with silica-rich lavas. These deposits are called "hot spots", because that is seen in the spectrometer and its composition has been confirmed by the LRO.
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