image: Over recent geologic time, as the lunar interior cooled and contracted, the entire Moon shrank by about 100 m. As a result its brittle crust ruptured and thrust faults (compression) formed distinctive landforms known as lobate scarps. In a particularly dramatic example, a thrust fault pushed crustal materials (arrows) up the side of the farside impact crater named Gregory (2.1°N, 128.1°E). By mapping the distribution and determining the size of all lobate scarps, the tectonic and thermal history of the Moon can be reconstructed over the past billion years. This image relates to an article that appeared in the Aug. 20, 2010, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. Thomas Watters of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and colleagues was titled, "Evidence of Recent Thrust Faulting on the Moon Revealed by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera." view more
Credit: Image courtesy of NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University/Smithsonian