Via UCLA:

The moon is more geologically complex than previously thought,
scientists report Sept. 17 in two papers published in the journal Science.

Their conclusion is based on data from the Diviner Lunar Radiometer
Experiment aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), an unmanned
mission to comprehensively map the entire moon. The spacecraft orbits
some 31 miles above the moon’s surface.

The new data reveal previously unseen compositional differences in
the moon’s crustal highlands and have confirmed the presence of material
surprisingly abundant in silica — a compound containing the chemical
elements silicon and oxygen — in five distinct lunar regions.

Every mineral, and therefore every rock, absorbs and emits energy
with a unique spectral signature that can be measured to reveal its
identity. For the first time ever, Diviner is providing scientists with
global, high-resolution infrared maps of the moon, which are enabling
them to make a definitive identification of silicates commonly found
within its crust…

Photo: NASA