Constraining the formation and transport of lunar impact glasses using the ages and chemical compositions of Chang'e-5 glass beads

Long, TaoYuqi Qian, Yuqi QianNorman, MarcMiljkovic, KatarinaCrow, CarolynHead, JamesChe, XiaochaoTartese, RomainZellner, NicolleYu, XuefengShiwen Xie, Shiwen Xie2026-03-062026-03-062375-2548https://hdl.handle.net/1885/733807163Impact glasses found in lunar soils provide a possible window into the impact history of the inner solar system. However, their use for precise reconstruction of this history is limited by an incomplete understanding of the physical mechanisms responsible for their origin and distribution and possible relationships to local and regional geology. Here, we report U-Pb isotopic dates and chemical compositions of impact glasses from the Chang'e-5 soil and quantitative models of impact melt formation and ejection that account for the compositions of these glasses. The predominantly local provenance indicated by their compositions, which constrains transport distances to <~150 kilometers, and the age-frequency distribution are consistent with formation mainly in impact craters 1 to 5 kilometers in diameter. Based on geological mapping and impact cratering theory, we tentatively identify specific craters on the basaltic unit sampled by Chang'e-5 that may have produced these glasses and compare their ages with the impact record of the asteroid belt.This work was supported by CNSA grants D020204 (D.L., T.L., X.C., and S.X.), D020203 (T.L.), D020101 (Y.Q. and L.X.), and D020205 (Y.Q.); National Key R&D Program of China from Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China grant 2020YFE0202100 (D.L., X.C., T.L., C.W., Y.Q., and L.X.); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) grant 41842045 (D.L., T.L., and X.C.); Australian Research Council (ARC) grant FT210100063 (K.M.); Royal Society, URF\R\201009 (K.H.J.); Science and Technology Facilities Council, ST/V000675/1 and ST/P005225/1 (K.H.J. and R.T.); and Swedish Research Council grant 2021-04920 (M.W. and A.N.)application/pdfen-AU© 2022 The Authors, some rights reservedhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Constraining the formation and transport of lunar impact glasses using the ages and chemical compositions of Chang'e-5 glass beads202210.1126/sciadv.abq25422023-10-01Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY)