Lunar Boulder Fields as Indicators of Recent Tectonic Activity

Autor: Cole Nypaver, Thomas Watters, Bradley Thomson, Ali Bramson, Joshua Cahill, Jaclyn Clark, Catherine Elder, Caleb Fassett, Gareth Morgan, Santa Lucía Pérez Cortés, Tyler Powell
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: The Planetary Science Journal, Vol 5, Iss 3, p 77 (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2632-3338
DOI: 10.3847/PSJ/ad28b6
Popis: Wrinkle ridges are the predominant tectonic structure on the nearside lunar maria. Although lunar wrinkle ridge formation began as early as ∼3.9–4.0 Ga, recent investigations have identified wrinkle ridges in the lunar maria that were tectonically active as recently as the Copernican period of lunar geologic history. Some of those geologically young wrinkle ridges were identified by the presence of dense fields of meter-scale boulders on their scarps and topographic crests. Other investigations have identified recently active lunar wrinkle ridges that lack the ubiquitous presence of boulder fields, thereby rendering the presence of boulder fields ambiguous in the search for ongoing tectonic activity on the Moon. Here we assess boulder populations associated with 1116 wrinkle ridge segments on the lunar maria that are inferred to be recently active (
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