Abstract
WE have applied a new method1 for palaeointensity (ancient magnetic field) to three subsamples of a single, 1-m homogeneous clast (72215) from a recrystallised boulder of lunar breccia. Samples from the clast have been dated by 40Ar–39Ar (ref. 2), Rb–Sr (ref. 3) and U–Pb (ref. 4) methods to yield a date of 4.0×199 yr as the age of boulder assembly. The new method1 has two desirable characteristics; first, its reliance on simulating the natural remanent magnetisation (NRM) directly with a thermoremanent magnetisation (TRM); second, it includes a built-in monitoring device which detects thermally-induced sample degradation (oxidation, sintering and annealing), a common occurrence in lunar samples. We therefore provide here the first credible evidence that the strength of the ambient magnetic field at the Taurus–Littrow region of the Moon must have been about 0.4 oersted, 4.0×109 yr BP.
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BANERJEE, S., MELLEMA, J. Early lunar magnetism. Nature 260, 230–231 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/260230a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/260230a0
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