The near and far sides of the moon are surprisingly different. New study sheds light on the mystery

“The question is how this heat affects the internal dynamics of the Moon. What we show is that under any reasonable conditions at the time of SPA formation, it ends up concentrating these heat-producing elements on the near side.

“We speculate that this contributed to the mantle melting that led to the pyroclastic flows we see at the surface.”

The volcanic plains on the near side of the moon are home to a group of Elements including potassium, rare earth elements and phosphorous among others – they are known as Procellarum KREEP terrane (PKT) and are rare elsewhere on the Moon.

The researchers ran computer simulations of how heat from a giant impact changes heat transfer patterns in the moon’s interior, and how this might redistribute KREEP in the lunar mantle.

According to their model, KREEP would have traversed the heat wave emitted from the area of ​​impact “like a surfer” whether the impact was a direct hit or simply wounding the moon. As the heat plume spread under the moon’s crust, this material was eventually transferred to the near side.

“How the PKT formed is the single most important open question in lunar science,” Jones said in the press release.

“And the South Pole-Aitken effect is one of the most important events in the history of the Moon. This work brings those two things together, and I think our results are really exciting.”