The Moon Is Geologically Active Now

The Moon Is Geologically Active Now
New images acquired by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft show that the moon's crust is being slightly stretched, forming small valleys - at least in some small areas. High-resolution images obtained by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) provide evidence that these valleys are very young, suggesting the moon has experienced relatively recent geologic activity. Smithsonian Instituion Senior Scientist Tom Watters explains more about the moon's recent geological activity in the above 2-minute video. More from NASA.

As an aside, a team of Dutch earth scientists have now identified the likely reason for the LACK OF VOLCANIC ACTIVITY: the hot, molten rock contained within the Moon's interior could be so dense that it is too heavy to rise to the surface, according to MEDIA REPORTS about a recent study. Nonetheless, the Dutch study indicates that the Moon may one day have lava flows, noted the "MAIL ONLINE". Moonquake data suggests that there is lots of liquid magma deep within the Moon because around 30% of the rocks there are thought to be molten.

However, a recent MIT STUDY of the Moon denotes a static orb with little to no internal activity, reports "SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN". New evidence from an ancient lunar rock, collected on the Apollo 11 moon mission, suggests that the moon once harbored a long-lived dynamo - a molten, convecting core of liquid metal that generated a strong magnetic field 3.7 billion years ago.

With the recent lunar remote sensing missions and scientific studies of rock samples from the Apollo mission era, new understanding of our nearest neighbor continues to emerge. The geologic science of the Moon appears far from settled.

Origin: dark-sky-misteries.blogspot.com

Posted by Unknown | at 4:37 PM