Scientists Map 10,000 Young Lunar Faults as Moon Shrinks 45 Meters
Updated
Updated · Gizmodo · Oct 15
Scientists Map 10,000 Young Lunar Faults as Moon Shrinks 45 Meters
1 articles · Updated · Gizmodo · Oct 15
Summary
More than 10,000 young faults have been identified across the Moon in NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images, including over 8,900 lobate scarps and 2,000 small mare ridges.
The study says the Moon’s radius has contracted by about 45 meters over the past 400 million years as its interior cools, implying shrinkage of roughly 6 to 11 centimeters per million years.
Unlike Earth, the Moon behaves as a single unbroken shell rather than a mosaic of plates, so slip on existing faults or formation of new ones could trigger moonquakes almost anywhere.
That broad fault distribution matters for exploration: earlier studies tied young faults to Apollo-recorded moonquakes and found some Artemis landing candidates near possible quake epicenters, though thicker-crust regions may be more stable.