A team of researchers from Shandong University in eastern China studied the largest, deepest and oldest crater on the Moon, the South Pole-Aitken Basin, a geological anomaly located on the far side of Earth’s natural moon.

Chinese scientists have determined that the mantle beneath the crater contains an unusually large amount of plagioclase (a group of rock-forming minerals in an isomorphic series), which are usually found in the surface layer – the lunar crust. Experts do not exclude the possibility of a significant collision with the Moon by a certain cosmic body after the formation of the basin in this area.

The data analyzed by PRC specialists was obtained by the Chang’e-4 station, which was launched on December 8, 2018. She worked on the moon for 44 lunar days (each about 14.5 Earth days) and is now in sleep mode, because the period of the next dark hour of the day has come (the night on Earth’s natural satellite also lasts two weeks).

The South Pole-Aitken Basin is the largest known crater on the Moon. Located on the south side. It measures 2400 x 2050 km, making it one of the largest craters in the Solar System. It is the deepest and oldest known impact structure on the Moon. The depth of the basin reaches 8 km and the total height interval is 16.1 km.