NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has given strong evidence to the researchers that there is gradual decrease in the volcanic activity on the moon instead of ending suddenly a billion year ago.

There is estimation that the rock deposits on the moon are less than 100 million years old. This time period corresponds to Earth’s Cretaceous period, the heyday of dinosaurs. Some areas are estimated to be less than 50 million years old.

“This finding is the kind of science that is literally going to make geologists rewrite the textbooks about the moon,” said John Keller, LRO project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The deposits are found all over the dark volcanic plains on the moon. The deposits are the mixture of smooth, round, shallow mounds next to patches of rough, blocky terrain. A well-studied area on the moon called Ina, was imaged by Apollo 15 astronauts as these features are too small to be seen from Earth.

The large number of these features and their wide distribution plays an important role in moon’s geologic history. The size of depression specifies that the deposits are relatively recent. The steep slopes leading down from the smooth rock layers to the rough terrain are consistent with the young age estimates.

“The existence and age of the irregular mare patches tell us that the lunar mantle had to remain hot enough to provide magma for the small-volume eruptions that created these unusual young features,” said Sarah Braden, a recent Arizona State University graduate and the lead author of the study.

LRO a system of three cameras, was designed and built by Malin Space Science Systems and is operated by Arizona State University. It is managed by Goddard for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.