Isro announces unique discovery about origin of volcanic rocks on moon.

February 18, 2023

Scientists from Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad (India), US and Japan have found a unique group of ancient lunar basaltic meteorites with very low abundance of KREEP.
- This suggests that meteorites studied have come from a region different from PKT (Procellarum KREEP Terrane).
- KREEP is acronym for a place that has deposits of potassium (K), rare earth elements (REE) and phosphorus (P).
- Two of the samples were those that were found on Earth– first in 1988 in Antarctica, and another in 1999 in South Africa’s Kalahari Desert– while the third was collected by the Soviet Union’s Luna-24 mission in 1976.
Study shows that these basalts are result of low-pressure melting in the Moon whereas basalts in PKT regions are a result of localized radioactive melting.
- Further, it shows that these basalts originated from a cool, shallow, and compositionally distinct part of lunar interior.
- PKT regions are rich in radioactive elements that provided heat to melt rocks resulting in KREEP rich basalts.
Mare regions of Moon which is on near side of Moon consists mainly of basalt rocks.
- Near side of moon (always visible from Earth) is divided into light areas called Lunar Highlands and darker areas called Mare.