A rare lunar meteorite from northwest Africa has revealed a previously unknown moon impact about 3.5 billion years ago, giving scientists a new record from the era when life was beginning on Earth.
Radiometric dating of meteorite NWA 12593 pinned down the event, while traces of recrystallized cubic zirconia showed the collision heated part of the Moon’s surface enough to turn it molten.
The sample preserves evidence of three lunar impacts, but researchers centered on the earliest one; later events formed breccia and eventually blasted the rock off the Moon toward Earth.
The 3.5 billion-year timing also lines up with separately identified major impacts on Earth and the asteroid Vesta, suggesting a broader inner-solar-system bombardment phase was still underway.
If asteroids delivered life's key ingredients, was this ancient cosmic collision the final spark that ignited life on Earth?
As Earth's own history is erased, what secrets of our origin are still waiting to be discovered on the Moon?
Ancient Lunar Meteorite NWA 12593 Records 3.5-Billion-Year-Old Impact and Synchronized Inner Solar System Bombardment
Overview
A recent study led by Carolyn A. Crow, published in Geology, reveals that lunar meteorite NWA 12593—found in northwest Africa—preserves evidence of three ancient lunar impacts. The most significant of these occurred about 3.5 billion years ago and was part of a broader period of intense asteroid bombardment across the inner solar system between 3.7 and 3.2 billion years ago. This rare meteorite offers a unique chronological record of these colossal events, helping scientists better understand the violent history that shaped both the Moon and Earth during the early solar system.