Moon’s volcanic history revealed in glassy spherules from Apollo 17 soil 76501OPEN ACCESS 

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Alexander A. Nemchin, Marc D. Norman, Martin J. Whitehouse, Evgenia Salin, Nicholas E. Timms, Tao Long, Xiaochao Che, Renaud Merle, Fred Jourdan, Tao Luo

MAPS, First published: 04 February 2026

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“Rapidly quenched droplets of pyroclastically erupted lava are common in lunar regolith at landing sites proximal to the maria. Here, we document the U-Pb chronologies, major element, and trace element compositions of picritic glassy particles from Apollo 17 regolith sample 76501. These particles are dominated by high-Ti compositions similar to those of the established Apollo 17 orange and black pyroclastic deposits, but the textures of some beads indicate slower cooling and/or equilibration at lower temperatures. Using a new approach to calibrate SIMS U-Pb isotopic analysis of vitrophyric beads, we show that their U-Pb ages are consistent with a single or closely timed multiple eruptions ~50–100 Ma younger than the 3752 ± 9 to 3758 ± 12 Ma crystalline mare basalts collected at this site. A few picritic beads with very low-Ti compositions may be younger, but their ages are not well defined and can be ~3.3–3.6 Ga.”

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