Age of the Moon

Summary of radiometric ages for lunar samples, based on a variety of isotope chronometers. 

Analyzed mare basalts apparently do not bound the full age range for mare volcanism. Crater counting (see Box 9.1) of other maria suggest volcanism may have extended to 

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Tera, F. and Wasserburg, G. J. (1974) U-Th-Pb systematics on lunar rocks and inferences about lunar evolution and the age of the Moon. Proceedings of the 5th Lunar Science Conference, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta Supplement, 5, 1571-1599. 

Model ages can provide upper and lower limits on the age of the Moon. Halliday and Porcelli (2001) reviewed the strontium isotope data for early solar system objects and showed that... 

Table 3 Recent estimates of the ages of early solar system objects and the age of the Moon. 

Figure 5. Model ages for instantaneous core formation in planetary bodies as a function ofparent body size. Given the small size of the Moon, the W model age of the Moon is relatively young. This suggests that the Moon formed by a unique process, consistent with the giant impact hypothesis for the origin of the Moon.

The Age of the Moon and W Isotope Constraints on the Mechanisms of Terrestrial Core Formation... 

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