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Erosion, Transportation and the Nature of the Maria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 February 2017

T. Gold
T. Gold*
Affiliation:
Cornell University, Ithaca, U.S.A.

Abstract

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Rock dust appears to have been redistributed over the Moon by effects other than impact explosions. A core sample on Apollo 12 showed sharp and distinctive layers and was clearly unmixed. Surface transportation processes that deposit the dust very gently must have been at work. Orbiter pictures confirm that such surface creep has taken place on a very large scale.

The seismic evidence makes clear that there is no continuous sheet of bedrock at a shallow depth in the vicinity of the Apollo 12 site. A deep deposit of powder would match the seismic properties observed. Mascons require for their explanation a surface transportation process that tends to fill in the large impact basins after their formation.

Surface transportation of lunar dust has been demonstrated in the laboratory to occur most readily as a result of electrostatic forces produced by electron bombardment in the energy range of a few hundred volts. Such bombardment happens on the Moon predominantly when it is in the magnetic tail of the Earth, and this may be the reason why mare ground is so remarkably dominant on the hemispere facing the Earth.

Type
Part II: Scientific Papers
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 47: The Moon , 1972 , pp. 55 - 67
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1972 

References

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