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A new analysis of earthquakes on the Apollo era moon reveals that our satellite is probably still tectonically active. The detectors placed by Apollo astronauts half a century ago revealed small shakes on the moon, but their causes were not well understood. The meteor showers, like those that caused the distinctive features of the Moon, are still raining today. Astronomers did not know if the moon was shaking or being shaken by outside forces.
New research has made it possible to track the epicentres of each small earthquake and discover that eight of them could be located within 20 miles of fault collapse. These are cliffs caused by the shearing of the Moon's surface due to shrinkage and long-term contraction of the surface. Scientists know that the moon is too cold and that there is still a plate tectonics, like Earth, that keeps our entire slippery crust in giant pieces the size of a continent. But lunar faults, such as Earth-specific fault lines, are similar to those encountered when pieces of the surface sometimes rub against each other, causing earthquakes that can affect the entire planet.
Moonquakes
In addition, most of the moonquakes occurred at times of the month when tidal tensions between the moon and the Earth were highest, which would make these faults more likely to slide and cause an earthquake. The Moon and the Earth are still fighting each other, but the stress on the faults is greater when the Moon is at its highest point, the farthest point on the Earth. Researchers led by Thomas Watters, of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, published their findings Monday in Nature Geoscience.
Researchers have long suspected that the moon could still be active. Earthquakes suggest all this alone, although other forces may also shake the moon. The fault of the snails themselves is also a clue. If they were very old and dated back to a much older period in the history of the moon, they would have filled over the years with debris due to crater impacts and other disturbances from area. Thus, the fact that scientists see them clearly indicates that they must be less than 50 million years old, a wink in geological time.
Watters and his team also looked closely at the lunar reconnaissance orbiter data and identified areas near the faults that appear to have been recently disturbed – rocks that rolled in the past or signs of landslides.
By tracing the moon tremors both in time and place up to the places where the moon's surface is most likely to move, scientists are more certain than ever that the moon is not still dead, and that she continues to stabilize, as well as her interactions. with his nearest neighbor – our own Earth.
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