Scientists can tell this happened recently, in geological terms, because the maria have fewer maria than the highland areas.
How do we know the Moon’s maria are younger than its highlands?
Further, different parts of the surface of the Moon exhibit different amounts of cratering and therefore are of different ages: the maria are younger than the highlands, because they have fewer craters. The oldest surfaces in the Solar System are characterized by maximal cratering density.
How did the maria and highlands form?
The highlands are heavily cratered and mountainous. We have learned that the maria are relatively young areas on the Moon which were generated after very large impacts penetrated the crust of our Moon and excavated basins. During later volcanic episodes, liquid magma came to the surface and filled these basins.
What evidence shows that the lunar highlands are older than the lunar maria?
Two pieces of evidence that indicates the lunar highlands are older than maria is that maria has few craters, and the highlands have large and more common.
What is the difference between the lunar highlands and the maria?
Maria vs. Highlands
The side facing the earth consists of dark (basaltic) lava filled basins called mare (maria) or seas. The lighter areas are heavily impacted terrain called the highlands. These contrasting features can easily be seen with the naked eye.
What is the main visual difference between the lunar highlands and the lunar maria What are the implications of this observation?
What is the main visual difference between the lunar highlands and the lunar maria? What are the implications of this observation? The lunar highlands are very heavily cratered and the lunar maria are generally smooth. (More specifically, the maria contain only 3 percent as many craters per unit area as the highlands.)
How were maria on the Moon formed?
The maria were formed after large impacts from meteors carved out basins in the lunar crust. When the Moon was volcanic, magma seeped to the surface, filled the basins and eventually hardened, resulting in the relatively smooth flat areas seen today.
How did the lunar highlands form?
The Indian mission through the Moon mineralogy mapper has offered proof that the Moon’s highlands were formed by the eruption of a hot liquid inside the Moon’s surface popularly known as magma.
What is true about the lunar highlands?
What is true of the lunar highlands? They are the oldest part of the lunar surface. they range from 4.6 – 4.4 billion years old, on average. the Moon lacks wind, water and an atmosphere.
How does the age of the lunar highlands compare to the age of the lunar maria quizlet?
How does the age of the lunar highlands compare to the age of the lunar maria? The maria are a few hundred million years younger.
What caused old surface features of the lunar highlands?
The lunar highlands represent the ancient lunar crust that has been gardened extensively by meteoritic bombardment, particularly during the early period of intense bombardment around 3.9 Ga ago, resulting in extensive brecciation.
In what sense were the lunar maria once seas?
The lunar maria are the lowland basins of dark mineral deposits from volcanic eruptions. Ancient astronomers believed that the dark areas were actual oceans, which led to the name maria- or “seas” in latin.
When did the lunar maria form?
The maria formed a secondary crust on the Moon, when lava filled the giant impact basins over a period of several hundred million years ending around 3.15 billion years ago.
Why does the lunar maria have so many fewer craters than the highlands?
The lunar basaltic lava were far more fluid than Earth’s lavas and thus formed smooth basins like oceans, as shown in the photography. Lunar basalts are less porous than the anorthosites, so highland’s craters are generally deeper than maria’s ones.
What are the lunar highlands?
highlands: the lighter, heavily cratered regions of the Moon, which are generally several kilometers higher than the maria. mare: (plural: maria) Latin for “sea;” the name applied to the dark, relatively smooth features that cover 17% of the Moon’s surface.
Why are there no Marias on the far side of the moon?
In contrast, impacts on the far side’s thicker crust failed to penetrate deeply enough to cause lava to well up, instead leaving the far side of the moon with a surface of valleys, craters and highlands, but almost no maria.
What are the main differences between the Moon’s highlands and the maria quizlet?
The lava poured out and hardened over. How do maria differ from highlands. Maria are darker, less cratered, smoother, younger, higher in iron, and generally lower in elevation than the highlands. You just studied 11 terms!
Why do lunar maria appear dark compared to the rest of the Moon?
They were dubbed maria, Latin for ‘seas’, by early astronomers who mistook them for actual seas. They are less reflective than the “highlands” as a result of their iron-rich composition, and hence appear dark to the naked eye. The maria cover about 16% of the lunar surface, mostly on the side visible from Earth.
What maria on the surface of the Moon look like and how they came to be known as maria?
Describe what maria on the surface of the moon look like and how they came to be known as maria? Maria are large, dark, basaltic plains on the moon. Galileo named these places ‘maria’ after the Latin word for sea because he thought they looked like oceans.
How were the maria of the Moon formed quizlet?
maria formed when, before the moon’s crust completely solidified, several large bodies struck the surface, making huge craters. molten material from within the moon flooded the crater and congealed to become the smooth, dark law plains of the maria.
Why does the Moon have maria?
During the formation of the Moon, lava flows were able to move through this thinner crust and flood the basins on the near side, but not as much on the far side of the Moon. The areas of these lava flows are what we now call maria, which is Latin for “seas”.