Pinpointing the thermal history of lunar basaltic meteorites in a nutshell

Pierre Vonlanthen (), Farhang Nabiei, Cyril Cayron, A. Brian Aebersold, Martin Robyr, Mary-Alix Kaczmarek, Othmar Müntener and Philippe Gillet
Additional contact information
Pierre Vonlanthen: University of Lausanne
Farhang Nabiei: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Cyril Cayron: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
A. Brian Aebersold: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Martin Robyr: University of Lausanne
Mary-Alix Kaczmarek: University of Toulouse
Othmar Müntener: University of Lausanne
Philippe Gillet: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Native metals of igneous origin are recognized as one of the distinctive features of basalts from the Moon. Our study demonstrates that the tiny Fe-Ni metal blebs nucleated from lunar magma exhibit unanticipated, nutshell-like, crystallographic microstructures, that can be used in conjunction with local variations in chemical compositions to trace the complete thermal history of the host rock. This encompasses rapid cooling on the lunar surface, shock reheating upon impact, and post-shock cooling in the outer space. The Fe-Ni metal blebs indicate that the lava cooled in two stages, first down to 90–160 °C during lunar daytime, and then, to −160 °C during nighttime. Upon shock, the (near-)equilibrium peak temperature of 660–690 °C was reached shortly after release to zero pressure, mainly by thermal conduction from hot vesicular plagioclase. Here, we show that intense shock heating is compatible with the small impact scenario put forward for lunar meteorites and that metals are pioneering full-range geothermometers capable of tracing the complete thermal history of achondritic planetary materials.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-57652-6 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-57652-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57652-6

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().