Earthshine on a Young Moon: Explaining the Lunar Farside Highlands

TL;DR

This paper proposes that Earthshine-induced thermal gradients during the Moon's formation caused the hemispheric crustal thickness difference, explaining the lunar highlands problem.

Contribution

It introduces a model where Earthshine influences lunar crust formation, providing a causal explanation for the farside highlands' greater thickness.

Findings

Earthshine created a thermal gradient on the early Moon.

This gradient led to chemical inhomogeneity in crust formation.

The model explains the hemispheric crustal thickness difference.

Abstract

The lunar farside highlands problem refers to the curious and unexplained fact that the farside lunar crust is thicker, on average, than the nearside crust. Here we recognize the crucial influence of Earthshine, and propose that it naturally explains this hemispheric dichotomy. Since the accreting Moon rapidly achieved synchronous rotation, a surface and atmospheric thermal gradient was imposed by the proximity of the hot, post-Giant-Impact Earth. This gradient guided condensation of atmospheric and accreting material, preferentially depositing crust-forming refractories on the cooler farside, resulting in a primordial bulk chemical inhomogeneity that seeded the crustal asymmetry. Our model provides a causal solution to the lunar highlands problem: the thermal gradient created by Earthshine produced the chemical gradient responsible for the crust thickness dichotomy that defines the lunar highlands.