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Moon formation

Earth's titanium twin

Nature Geoscience volume 5, pages 240–241 (2012)Cite this article

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A giant impact on the young proto-Earth is thought to explain the formation of the Moon. High-precision analysis of titanium isotopes in lunar rocks suggests that the Moon and Earth's mantle are more similar than existing models permit.

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Figure 1: Earthrise as observed from the KAGUYA spacecraft in orbit around the Moon.

© JAXA/NHK

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Matthias M. M. Meier is at the Department of Geology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden,

    Matthias M. M. Meier

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  1. Matthias M. M. Meier
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Correspondence to Matthias M. M. Meier.

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Meier, M. Earth's titanium twin. Nature Geosci 5, 240–241 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1434

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