Canup, R. M. & Asphaug, E. Origin of the Moon in a giant impact near the end of the Earth’s formation. Nature 412, 708–712 (2001).
Google Scholar
Borg, L. E., Connelly, J. N., Boyet, M. & Carlson, R. W. Chronological evidence that the Moon is either young or did not have a global magma ocean. Nature 477, 70–72 (2011).
Google Scholar
Gaffney, A. M. & Borg, L. E. A young solidification age for the lunar magma ocean. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 140, 227–240 (2014).
Google Scholar
Borg, L. E. et al. Isotopic evidence for a young lunar magma ocean. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 523, 115706 (2019).
Google Scholar
Nemchin, A. et al. Timing of crystallization of the lunar magma ocean constrained by the oldest zircon. Nat. Geosci. 2, 133–136 (2009).
Google Scholar
Barboni, M. et al. Early formation of the Moon 4.51 billion years ago. Sci. Adv. 3, e1602365 (2017).
Google Scholar
Greer, J. et al. 4.46 Ga zircons anchor chronology of lunar magma ocean. Geochem. Persp. Let. 27, 49–53 (2023).
Google Scholar
Barboni, M. et al. High-precision U–Pb zircon dating identifies a major magmatic event on the Moon at 4.338 Ga. Sci. Adv. 10, eadn9871 (2024).
Google Scholar
Cuk, M., Hamilton, D. P., Lock, S. J. & Stewart, S. T. Tidal evolution of the Moon from a high-obliquity, high-angular-momentum Earth. Nature 539, 402–406 (2016).
Google Scholar
Matsuyama, I., Trinh, A. & Keane, J. T. The lunar fossil figure in a Cassini state. Planet. Sci. J. 2, 232 (2021).
Google Scholar
Woo, J. M. Y., Nesvorný, D., Scora, J. & Morbidelli, A. Terrestrial planet formation from a ring: long-term simulations accounting for the giant planet instability. Icarus 417, 116109 (2024).
Google Scholar
Morbidelli, A. et al. The timeline of the lunar bombardment: revisited. Icarus 305, 262–276 (2018).
Google Scholar
Nesvorný, D. et al. Early bombardment of the moon: connecting the lunar crater record to the terrestrial planet formation. Icarus 399, 115545 (2023).
Google Scholar
Day, J. M. D. & Walker, R. J. Highly siderophile element depletion in the Moon. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 423, 114–124 (2015).
Google Scholar
Warren, P. H. The magma ocean concept and lunar evolution. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 13, 201–240 (1985).
Google Scholar
Borg, L. E. & Carlson, R. W. The evolving chronology of Moon formation. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 51, 25–52 (2023).
Google Scholar
Maurice, M., Tosi, N., Schwinger, S., Breuer, D. & Kleine, T. A long-lived magma ocean on a young Moon. Sci. Adv. 6, eaba8949 (2020).
Google Scholar
Jacobson, S. A. et al. Highly siderophile elements in Earth’s mantle as a clock for the Moon-forming impact. Nature 508, 84–87 (2014).
Google Scholar
Mezger, K., Maltese, A. & Vollstaedt, H. Accretion and differentiation of early planetary bodies as recorded in the composition of the silicate Earth. Icarus 365, 114497 (2021).
Google Scholar
Thiemens, M. M., Sprung, P., Fonseca, R. O. C., Leitzke, F. P. & Münker, C. Early Moon formation inferred from hafnium–tungsten systematics. Nat. Geosci. 12, 696–700 (2019).
Google Scholar
Borg, L. E., Brennecka, G. A. & Kruijer, T. S. The origin of volatile elements in the Earth–Moon system. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 119, e2115726119 (2022).
Google Scholar
Kruijer, T. S., Archer, G. J. & Kleine, T. No 182W evidence for early Moon formation. Nat. Geosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00820-2 (2021).
Garrick-Bethell, I., Perera, V., Nimmo, F. & Zuber, M. T. The tidal-rotational shape of the Moon and evidence for polar wander. Nature 512, 181–184 (2014).
Google Scholar
O’Reilly, T. C. & Davies, G. F. Magma transport of heat on Io: a mechanism allowing a thick lithosphere. Geophys. Res. Lett. 8, 313–316 (1981).
Google Scholar
Spencer, D. C., Katz, R. F. & Hewitt, I. J. Tidal controls on the lithospheric thickness and topography of Io from magmatic segregation and volcanism modelling. Icarus 359, 114352 (2021).
Google Scholar
Miyazaki, Y. & Stevenson, D. J. A subsurface magma ocean on Io: exploring the steady state of partially molten planetary bodies. Planet. Sci. J. 3, 256 (2022).
Google Scholar
Cuk, M. & Stewart, S. T. Making the Moon from a fast-spinning Earth: a giant impact followed by resonant despinning. Science 338, 1047–1052 (2012).
Google Scholar
Tian, Z., Wisdom, J. & Elkins-Tanton, L. Coupled orbital-thermal evolution of the early Earth–Moon system with a fast-spinning Earth. Icarus 281, 90–102 (2017).
Google Scholar
Rufu, R. & Canup, R. M. Tidal evolution of the evection resonance/quasi-resonance and the angular momentum of the Earth–Moon system. J. Geophys. Res. Planets 125, e2019JE006312 (2020).
Google Scholar
Ćuk, M., Lock, S. J., Stewart, S. T. & Hamilton, D. P. Tidal evolution of the Earth–Moon system with a high initial obliquity. Planet. Sci. J. 2, 147 (2021).
Google Scholar
Siegler, M. A., Bills, B. G. & Paige, D. A. Effects of orbital evolution on lunar ice stability. J. Geophys. Res. Planets 116, E03010 (2011).
Google Scholar
Downey, B. G., Nimmo, F. & Matsuyama, I. The thermal–orbital evolution of the Earth–Moon system with a subsurface magma ocean and fossil figure. Icarus 389, 115257 (2023).
Google Scholar
Tian, Z. & Wisdom, J. Vertical angular momentum constraint on lunar formation and orbital history. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 117, 15460–15464 (2020).
Google Scholar
Veeder, G. J., Matson, D. L., Johnson, T. V., Blaney, D. L. & Goguen, J. D. Io’s heat flow from infrared radiometry: 1983–1993. J. Geophys. Res. 99, 17095–17162 (1994).
Google Scholar
Wilson, L. & Head, J. W. Generation, ascent and eruption of magma on the Moon: new insights into source depths, magma supply, intrusions and effusive/explosive eruptions (part 1: theory). Icarus 283, 146–175 (2017).
Google Scholar
Brandon, A. D. et al. Re-evaluating Nd-142/Nd-144 in lunar mare basalts with implications for the early evolution and bulk Sm/Nd of the Moon. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 73, 6421–6445 (2009).
Google Scholar
Shearer, C. K. et al. Thermal and magmatic evolution of the Moon. Rev. Mineral. Geochem. 60, 365–518 (2006).
Google Scholar
Longhi, J. Experimental petrology and petrogenesis of mare volcanics. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 56, 2235–2251 (1992).
Google Scholar
Borg, L. E., Gaffney, A. M. & Shearer, C. K. A review of lunar chronology revealing a preponderance of 4.34–4.37 Ga ages. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 50, 715–732 (2015).
Google Scholar
Whitaker, E. A. The lunar Procellarum Basin. In Multi-ring Basins: Formation and Evolution; Proc. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 105–111 (Pergamon Press, 1981).
Garrick-Bethell, I., Wisdom, J. & Zuber, M. T. Evidence for a past high-eccentricity lunar orbit. Science 313, 652–655 (2006).
Google Scholar
Miljković, K. et al. Large impact cratering during lunar magma ocean solidification. Nat. Commun. 12, 5433 (2021).
Google Scholar
Bottke, W. F., Walker, R. J., Day, J. M. D., Nesvorny, D. & Elkins-Tanton, L. Stochastic late accretion to Earth, the Moon, and Mars. Science 330, 1527–1530 (2010).
Google Scholar
Marchi, S., Canup, R. M. & Walker, R. J. Heterogeneous delivery of silicate and metal to the Earth by large planetesimals. Nat. Geosci. 11, 77–81 (2018).
Google Scholar
Zhu, M.-H. et al. Reconstructing the late accretion history of the Moon. Nature 571, 226–229 (2019).
Google Scholar
Zahnle, K. J., Lupu, R., Dobrovolskis, A. & Sleep, N. H. The tethered Moon. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 427, 74–82 (2015).
Google Scholar
Korenaga, J. Rapid solidification of Earth’s magma ocean limits early lunar recession. Icarus 400, 115564 (2023).
Google Scholar
Ray, R. D., Eanes, R. J. & Chao, B. F. Detection of tidal dissipation in the solid Earth by satellite tracking and altimetry. Nature 381, 595–597 (1996).
Google Scholar
Lainey, V., Arlot, J.-E., Karatekin, Ö. & van Hoolst, T. Strong tidal dissipation in Io and Jupiter from astrometric observations. Nature 459, 957–959 (2009).
Google Scholar
Goldreich, P. & Soter, S. Q in the Solar System. Icarus 5, 375–389 (1966).
Google Scholar
Farhat, M., Auclair-Desrotour, P., Boué, G. & Laskar, J. The resonant tidal evolution of the Earth–Moon distance. Astron. Astrophys. 665, L1 (2022).
Google Scholar
Kleine, T. & Walker, R. J. Tungsten isotopes in planets. Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 45, 389–417 (2017).
Google Scholar
Salmon, J. & Canup, R. M. Lunar accretion from a Roche-interior fluid disk. Astrophys. J. 760, 83 (2012).
Google Scholar
Watts, A. B. Isostasy and Flexure of the Lithosphere (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2001).
Wieczorek, M. A. et al. The crust of the Moon as seen by GRAIL. Science 339, 671–675 (2013).
Google Scholar
Moore, W. B., Simon, J. I. & Webb, A. A. G. Heat-pipe planets. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 474, 13–19 (2017).
Google Scholar
Carslaw, H. S. & Jaeger, J. C. Conduction of Heat in Solids (Oxford Univ. Press, 1986).
Cherniak, D. J. & Watson, E. B. Pb diffusion in zircon. Chem. Geol. 172, 5–24 (2001).
Google Scholar
Meyer, J., Elkins-Tanton, L. & Wisdom, J. Coupled thermal–orbital evolution of the early Moon. Icarus 208, 1–10 (2010).
Google Scholar
Murray, C. D. & Dermott, S. F. Solar System Dynamics (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000); https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139174817.
Citron, R. I., Smith, D. E., Stewart, S. T., Hood, L. L. & Zuber, M. T. The South Pole–Aitken Basin: constraints on impact excavation, melt, and ejecta. Geophys. Res. Lett. 51, e2024GL110034 (2024).
Google Scholar
Jones, M. J. et al. A South Pole–Aitken impact origin of the lunar compositional asymmetry. Sci. Adv. 8, eabm8475 (2022).
Google Scholar
Snape, J. F. et al. Ancient volcanism on the Moon: insights from Pb isotopes in the MIL 13317 and Kalahari 009 lunar meteorites. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 502, 84–95 (2018).
Google Scholar
Melosh, H. J. Impact Cratering: A Geologic Process (Oxford Univ. Press, 1989).
Croft, S. K. Cratering flow fields: implications for the excavation and transient expansion stages of crater formation. Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. Proc. 3, 2347–2378 (1980).
Google Scholar
Barnhart, C. J. & Nimmo, F. Role of impact excavation in distributing clays over Noachian surfaces. J. Geophys. Res. Planets 116, E01009 (2011).
Google Scholar
Zahnle, K., Schenk, P., Levison, H. & Dones, L. Cratering rates in the outer Solar System. Icarus 163, 263–289 (2003).
Google Scholar
Robbins, S. J. A new global database of lunar impact craters >1–2 km: 1. Crater locations and sizes, comparisons with published databases, and global analysis. J. Geophys. Res. Planets 124, 871–892 (2019).
Google Scholar
Potter, R. W. K., Collins, G. S., Kiefer, W. S., McGovern, P. J. & Kring, D. A. Constraining the size of the South Pole–Aitken Basin impact. Icarus 220, 730–743 (2012).
Google Scholar
Ganguly, J. & Tirone, M. Relationship between cooling rate and cooling age of a mineral: theory and applications to meteorites. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 36, 167–175 (2001).
Google Scholar
