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. 2017 Jan 11;3(1):e1602365.
doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1602365. eCollection 2017 Jan.

Early formation of the Moon 4.51 billion years ago

Melanie Barboni  1 , Patrick Boehnke  2 , Brenhin Keller  3 , Issaku E Kohl  1 , Blair Schoene  4 , Edward D Young  1 , Kevin D McKeegan  1
Affiliations

Early formation of the Moon 4.51 billion years ago

Melanie Barboni et al. Sci Adv. .

Abstract

Establishing the age of the Moon is critical to understanding solar system evolution and the formation of rocky planets, including Earth. However, despite its importance, the age of the Moon has never been accurately determined. We present uranium-lead dating of Apollo 14 zircon fragments that yield highly precise, concordant ages, demonstrating that they are robust against postcrystallization isotopic disturbances. Hafnium isotopic analyses of the same fragments show extremely low initial 176Hf/177Hf ratios corrected for cosmic ray exposure that are near the solar system initial value. Our data indicate differentiation of the lunar crust by 4.51 billion years, indicating the formation of the Moon within the first ~60 million years after the birth of the solar system.

Keywords: Age of the moon; Apollo zircons; early earth; early solar system evolution; giant impact; lunar magma ocean; planetary accretion.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Concordia diagram of the Apollo 14 zircons used to determine Hf model ages.
U-Pb ID-TIMS analyses of zircon leachate (empty ellipses) and analyses of the remaining zircon residues after step leaching (filled ellipses). Ellipses are color-coded for samples.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Magnitude of the neutron capture effect on Apollo zircons as shown by the shift in 178Hf/177Hf.
The shift is expressed as a deviation in ε178Hfs from the terrestrial value (56). Samples with a large offset in ε178Hf all come from soil 14163 that experienced longer cosmic ray exposure on the near surface of the Moon.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Plot of ε176HfCHUR versus 207Pb/206Pb zircon age (Gy).
ε176HfCHUR is evaluated by the difference between initial ε176Hf(t) and the Hf isotopic composition of CHUR at time t (26). Taylor et al. (20) reported the data before and after neutron capture (NC) correction.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4. Hf model age (Gy) calculated for a Lu/Hfsource = 0 as a function of 207Pb/206Pb zircon crystallization age (Gy).
Ranges of previously proposed ages for the Moon’s formation are also shown.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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