looks close side of the moon Much different from the cratered far side we never see, while the vast, dark-coloured remnants of ancient lava flows dominate the nearby side, the other side is nearly devoid of such features but full of craters.
The reason for the big difference between the two sides is one of the most mysteries on the moon, but scientists now believe they have an explanation, so the study led by Brown University was conducted with researchers from Purdue University and the University of moon science Planets in Arizona, Stanford University, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
According to the British newspaper “Daily Mail” website, the study revealed that it is related to a massive impact 4.3 billion years ago near the south pole of the moon, which sent a huge column of heat through the moon’s interior.
It might also have carried certain materials, a combination of rare earth and heat-producing elements, to the near side of the moon, which in turn would have contributed to the volcanoes that created the volcanic plains we see today.
“We know that large impacts like the one that shaped the Antarctic craters will create a lot of heat,” said Matt Jones, a PhD candidate at Brown University and lead author of the study.
The question is how does this temperature affect the internal dynamics of the moon? What we show is that under any plausible conditions at the time the craters form, they end up concentrating these heat-producing elements on the near side, and scientists speculate that this contributed to the mantle melting that led to the lava flows we see at the surface.
Differences between the near and far sides of the Moon were first revealed in the 1960s by the Soviet Luna missions and the American Apollo program, and while differences in volcanic deposits are clear, it is hoped that future missions will also reveal differences in geochemical composition as well.
