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Large impact cratering during lunar magma ocean solidification
Name
s41467-021-25818-7.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.27 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
49250484fd03bbb03cf472ad194077f8
Author(s)
Miljković, K
Wieczorek, MA
Laneuville, M
Nemchin, A
Bland, PA
Zuber, MT
Date Issued
December 2021
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Version
Final published version
Abstract
AbstractThe lunar cratering record is used to constrain the bombardment history of both the Earth and the Moon. However, it is suggested from different perspectives, including impact crater dating, asteroid dynamics, lunar samples, impact basin-forming simulations, and lunar evolution modelling, that the Moon could be missing evidence of its earliest cratering record. Here we report that impact basins formed during the lunar magma ocean solidification should have produced different crater morphologies in comparison to later epochs. A low viscosity layer, mimicking a melt layer, between the crust and mantle could cause the entire impact basin size range to be susceptible to immediate and extreme crustal relaxation forming almost unidentifiable topographic and crustal thickness signatures. Lunar basins formed while the lunar magma ocean was still solidifying may escape detection, which is agreeing with studies that suggest a higher impact flux than previously thought in the earliest epoch of Earth-Moon evolution.
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
10.1038/s41467-021-25818-7
