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Don’t judge the Moon’s interior by its cover

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The Moon’s primordial solidification is believed to have produced a layer of dense ilmenite cumulates beneath the crust. Remnants of this layer have now been detected under the lunar nearside.

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Fig. 1: A numerical simulation of the mantle response to the South Pole–Aitken basin-forming impact showing the evolution of the ilmenite-bearing cumulate (IBC) layer.

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  1. Department of Geosciences, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA

    Peter B. James

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  1. Peter B. James
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Correspondence to Peter B. James.

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James, P.B. Don’t judge the Moon’s interior by its cover. Nat. Geosci. 17, 282–283 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01409-1

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