A team including Nanjing University compared Chang'e-6 farside samples with Apollo and Chang'e-5 nearside material. Basalts and Mg-suite rocks point to broadly similar mantle sources on both hemispheres, while farside anorthosites are more magnesium-rich, the crust is thicker and late magma-ocean products rich in potassium, rare earth elements and phosphorus appear thinner. The proposed mechanism begins after the Moon became tidally locked, when the Earth-Moon distance was smaller and unequal tidal heating drove lateral convection through a still-molten magma ocean. That circulation moved more anorthositic crust toward the farside and residual melt toward the nearside. The model connects chemistry, crustal thickness and surface appearance in one evolutionary path, but it remains a mechanism for the early Moon that needs more farside samples and chronological tests.

• ScienceDaily · Scientists may have finally solved the mystery of the Moon's two faces
• PubMed · Lunar farside-nearside asymmetry formation during magma ocean solidification