{"id":225151,"date":"2025-11-15T00:22:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T06:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/change-6-samples-reveal-first-evidence-of-impact-formed-hematite-and-maghemite-on-the-moon"},"modified":"2025-11-15T00:22:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T06:22:05","slug":"change-6-samples-reveal-first-evidence-of-impact-formed-hematite-and-maghemite-on-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/change-6-samples-reveal-first-evidence-of-impact-formed-hematite-and-maghemite-on-the-moon","title":{"rendered":"Chang\u2019e-6 samples reveal first evidence of impact-formed hematite and maghemite on the moon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/change-6-samples-reveal-first-evidence-of-impact-formed-hematite-and-maghemite-on-the-moon.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A joint research team from the Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGCAS) and Shandong University has for the first time identified crystalline hematite (\u03b1-Fe<sub>2<\/sub>O<sub>3<\/sub>) and maghemite (\u03b3-Fe<sub>2<\/sub>O<sub>3<\/sub>) formed by a major impact event in lunar soil samples retrieved by China\u2019s Chang\u2019e-6 mission from the South Pole\u2013Aitken (SPA) Basin. This finding, published in <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/sciadv.ady5169\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Science Advances<\/i><\/a> on November 14, provides direct sample-based evidence of highly oxidized materials on the lunar surface.<\/p>\n<p>Redox reactions are a fundamental component of planetary formation and evolution. Nevertheless, scientific studies have shown that neither the oxygen fugacity of the lunar interior nor the <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/lunar+surface\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">lunar surface<\/a> environment favors oxidation. Consistent with this, multivalent iron on the moon primarily exists in its ferrous (Fe<sup>2+<\/sup>) and metallic (Fe<sup>0<\/sup>) states, suggesting an overall reduced state. However, with further lunar exploration, recent orbital remote sensing studies using visible-near-infrared spectroscopy have suggested the widespread presence of hematite in the moon\u2019s high-latitude regions.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, earlier research on Chang\u2019e-5 samples first revealed impact-generated sub-micron magnetite (Fe<sub>3<\/sub>O<sub>4<\/sub>) and evidence of Fe<sup>3+<\/sup> in impact glasses. These results indicate that localized oxidizing environments on the moon existed during lunar surface modification processes driven by external impacts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A joint research team from the Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGCAS) and Shandong University has for the first time identified crystalline hematite (\u03b1-Fe2O3) and maghemite (\u03b3-Fe2O3) formed by a major impact event in lunar soil samples retrieved by China\u2019s Chang\u2019e-6 mission from the South Pole\u2013Aitken (SPA) Basin. This finding, published [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,385,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chemistry","category-evolution","category-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225151\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}