10:45 AM - 11:00 AM
[PPS06-01] Evolution of the lunar interior caused by migrating magma
Keywords:The Moon, Thermal history, Radial expansion/contraction, Numerical analysis, Magma migration
Geological and geophysical observations of the Moon indicate that it expanded by a few km for the first several hundred million years, then that mare volcanism actively took place, and then finally that it contracted by cooling of its interior. Given the hot origin of the Moon expected from the Giant Impact hypothesis, early expansion is too large to account for by thermal expansion only. In this study, we numerically calculated the thermal history of the internally heated one-dimensional spherically symmetric mantle of the Moon, taking account of its radial expansion by magma generation.
Magma is generated, when the temperature exceeds the melting temperature. The generated magma migrates upward as a permeable flow driven by the density difference between the solid and liquid phases. The migrating magma transports basaltic components and incompatible heat-producing elements (HPEs) that decay with time. The initial temperature at depth in the mantle is 1400 K to 1750 K, which implies that the shallow mantle is partially molten at the beginning of the calculation.
The calculated mantle expands for the first several hundred million years due to melting caused by internal heating. The generated magma migrates upward to the shallow mantle and extracts basaltic components and HPEs from the deep mantle. Consequently, the Moon becomes colder and thermally contracts. The time when the Moon expands most coincides with that when the partially molten region expands upward the most. This expansion of partially molten region accounts for the active mare volcanism of the Moon. We find that the radial expansion does not occur, when the initial temperature in the deep mantle is too high (more than 1650K), because an extensive magmatism extracts HPEs from the entire mantle within the first few tens of millions of years.
We obtain a thermal history model of the Moon that is compatible with its observed features, only when the lunar interior temperature is initially 1550 K to 1650 K, and there is a HPE-rich layer above the core-mantle boundary. These results constrain the earliest history of the Moon dominated by the magma ocean and mantle overturn.
Magma is generated, when the temperature exceeds the melting temperature. The generated magma migrates upward as a permeable flow driven by the density difference between the solid and liquid phases. The migrating magma transports basaltic components and incompatible heat-producing elements (HPEs) that decay with time. The initial temperature at depth in the mantle is 1400 K to 1750 K, which implies that the shallow mantle is partially molten at the beginning of the calculation.
The calculated mantle expands for the first several hundred million years due to melting caused by internal heating. The generated magma migrates upward to the shallow mantle and extracts basaltic components and HPEs from the deep mantle. Consequently, the Moon becomes colder and thermally contracts. The time when the Moon expands most coincides with that when the partially molten region expands upward the most. This expansion of partially molten region accounts for the active mare volcanism of the Moon. We find that the radial expansion does not occur, when the initial temperature in the deep mantle is too high (more than 1650K), because an extensive magmatism extracts HPEs from the entire mantle within the first few tens of millions of years.
We obtain a thermal history model of the Moon that is compatible with its observed features, only when the lunar interior temperature is initially 1550 K to 1650 K, and there is a HPE-rich layer above the core-mantle boundary. These results constrain the earliest history of the Moon dominated by the magma ocean and mantle overturn.