article_snippet: A volcano that erupted on the moon 3.5 billion years ago has been mapped in detail, showing A volcano that erupted on the moon 3.5 billion years ago was much more explosive than thought.
article_snippet: Although the moon 3.5 billion years ago was already known to be volcanically active during this time, the size and scale of a lunar volcanic eruption was surprising.
article_snippet: The volcanic structures, known as 'lava tubes', have previously been proposed as sites for human colonies on the moon 3.5 billion years ago.
article_snippet: The volcano is located between two craters on the far side of the moon 3.5 billion years ago,
article_snippet: Volcanoes were common in the early life of the Moon and in fact the dark "seas" you can observe on the lunar surface were created by runny, iron-rich, lava that flooded large areas, filling in impact craters and low-lying ground,' Jack Wilson, a PhD student in Durham's Institute for Computational Cosmology said. '
article_snippet: Eruption of viscous, light-coloured, iron-poor, lava, which creates steep-sided volcanic cones, was rare and observed only at a handful of sites such as this one. '
article_snippet: The explosive eruption of such lava is unknown elsewhere on the Moon, making this volcano unique. '
article_snippet: this volcano is located between two craters on the far side of the Moon, Bel'kovich - which is 133 miles (214km) wide - and Compton - which is 101 miles (162km) wide .
article_snippet: Shown is a picture of the far side of the moon taken by the Apollo 16 astronauts in 1972, where the volcanic site of the huge eruption is located .