Decline of the lunar core dynamo

Recent analyses of Apollo samples have demonstrated that a core dynamo existed on the Moon between at least 4.25 and 3.56 billion years ago (Ga) with surface field intensities reaching similar to 70 mu T. However, it is unknown when the Moon's magnetic field declined. Determining the temporal evolution of the dynamo is important because it constrains secular changes in power at the lunar core-mantle boundary and, by implication, the Moon's thermal and orbital evolution and the field generation mechanism. Here we present paleomagnetic data from several younger mare basalts which demonstrate that the surface magnetic field had declined precipitously to