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Unusual Ti minerals on the Moon produced by space weathering

Nature Astronomy (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Micrometeorite impacts are one of the main drivers of lunar space weathering and can alter the properties of lunar regolith. However, the details of such processes are not well understood yet. We used transmission electron microscopy to study a micrometeorite impact crater on a glass bead returned by Chang’e-5. We detected Ti-oxide deposits on the crater rim and identified their detailed structure as rutile (TiO2), trigonal Ti2O and triclinic Ti2O. The trigonal Ti2O and triclinic Ti2O are newly discovered mineral phases in lunar samples. We show that these Ti-oxide deposits could have formed by vaporization or deposition processes following a high-velocity microimpact on the lunar regolith. We suggest that such Ti minerals are previously overlooked space-weathering products on the Moon. Similar alterations to photocatalytic properties and reflectance spectra of regolith may also happen on other airless planetary bodies in the Solar System.

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Fig. 1: Micrometeorite impact crater on the Chang’e-5 glass bead.
Fig. 2: Ti-oxide deposits on the rim of the micrometeorite impact crater.
Fig. 3: TEM results identifying the Ti-oxide deposits.
Fig. 4: Graphical depiction of the formation scenario of Ti-oxide deposits by micrometeorite impact vaporization-deposition on the Moon.

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Data availability

All data in the paper are presented in the paper or the Supplementary Information. The unprocessed SEM and TEM data for Figs. 1–3 are available to download from figshare at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25244650.

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No code is used in this study.

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Acknowledgements

We were allocated the Chang’e-5 sample by the China National Space Administration. We thank A. Zhang and T. Long for their suggestions about this work. We are grateful to L. Maltagliati for the editorial handling of the manuscript. X. Zeng is supported by the National Key Research and Development Programme of China (Grant No. 2022YFF0503100), the B-type Strategic Priority Programme of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB41000000) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42103036). X.L. is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41931077), the Strategic Priority Programme of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB41020300) and Guizhou Provincial Science and Technology Projects (Grant No. GZ2019SIG). X. Zhang is supported by the Science and Technology Development Fund of Macau (Grant No. 0014/2022/A1). J.L. acknowledges support from the National Key Research and Development Programme of China (Grant No. 2022YFF0503100) and the B-type Strategic Priority Programme of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB41000000). W.Y. is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42241104). Y. Wu acknowledges support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 42203047 and 42241108), Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangzhou (Grant Nos. 2024A04J9999 and 202102021184) and the Innovation Training Programme for College Students of Guangdong Province (Grant No. S202111845208).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Xiaojia Zeng, Yanxue Wu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, China

    Xiaojia Zeng, Wen Yu, Bing Mo, Yuanyun Wen, Xiongyao Li & Jianzhong Liu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, China

    Xiaojia Zeng & Xiaoping Zhang

  3. Analysis and Test Center, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

    Yanxue Wu & Xiaomei Zhao

  4. CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, Hefei, China

    Xiongyao Li & Jianzhong Liu

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Contributions

X. Zeng prepared the Chang’e-5 sample, recognized the Ti-oxide deposits on the rim of micrometeorite impact crater, performed the research and prepared the initial paper. X. Zhang contributed to the discussion of new Ti minerals on the Moon. X. Zhang, X.L. and J.L. designed the research. W.Y., B.M. and Y. Wen provided technical support. Y. Wu and X. Zhao performed the TEM analysis. All authors participated in the discussion of the results, data interpretation and paper editing.

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Correspondence to Xiongyao Li, Xiaoping Zhang or Jianzhong Liu.

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Nature Astronomy thanks Katherine Burgess, Lingzhi Sun and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Zeng, X., Wu, Y., Yu, W. et al. Unusual Ti minerals on the Moon produced by space weathering. Nat Astron (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02229-4

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