China says moon rocks offer new clues to volcanic activity

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese researcher says moon rocks brought back to Earth by a robotic spacecraft last year have provided new insights into ancient lunar volcanic activity. The researcher, Li Xianhua, says an analysis of the samples revealed new information about the moon’s chemical composition and the way heat affected its development. Li says the samples indicate volcanic activity was still occurring on the moon as recently as 2 billion years ago, compared to previous estimates that such activity halted between 2.8 billion and 3 billion years ago. China in December brought back the first rocks from the moon since missions by the U.S. and former Soviet Union in the 1970s.