Lunar Meteorite NWA 12593 Reveals 3.486 Billion-Year Impact as Study Links Bombardment to Early Life
Updated
Updated · spacedaily.com · Jun 18
Lunar Meteorite NWA 12593 Reveals 3.486 Billion-Year Impact as Study Links Bombardment to Early Life
3 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Jun 18
Summary
A Geology study led by Carolyn Crow dated the oldest major impact recorded in lunar meteorite NWA 12593 to about 3.486 billion years ago, identifying a high-energy collision that melted lunar surface rock.
Mineral evidence in the northwest Africa meteorite includes cubic-zirconia phase heritage, indicating temperatures above 2,370C, while the rock also preserves two later impacts—one that brecciated it and another that blasted it off the Moon.
The team argues that the lunar date aligns with roughly 3.47 billion-year-old spherule beds on Earth and impact ages in eucrites from 4 Vesta, pointing to a shared inner Solar System bombardment episode.
That bombardment may have followed the breakup of a large asteroid, with debris striking bodies across the inner Solar System over a 3.7 billion-to-3.2 billion-year window.
The timing overlaps with some of Earth’s earliest accepted life evidence, around 3.43 billion years ago, but the study says the link is chronological rather than proof that impacts either triggered or suppressed life.
Was a single shattered asteroid responsible for a 500-million-year storm that battered the early inner Solar System?
A lunar meteorite just rewrote Earth's violent history. What other secrets about our origin are locked away on the Moon?
Did the cosmic bombardment that threatened early Earth actually provide the spark needed for life to begin?
Decoding Three Lunar Impacts: What NWA 12593 Reveals About the Moon’s Violent Past and Earth’s Early History
Overview
The lunar meteorite Northwest Africa (NWA) 12593, discovered in Mali in 2017, is a fragmental regolith breccia that provides direct evidence of the Moon’s dynamic impact history. Its presence on Earth shows that a powerful collision recently ejected it from the lunar surface. Scientists study NWA 12593 to uncover details about multiple ancient impacts recorded within its structure, offering valuable insights into the Moon’s geological evolution. Ongoing research, formally published in the Meteoritical Bulletin, highlights the importance of this rare meteorite for understanding how violent events have shaped both the Moon and the early solar system.