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 do we know that highlands is older than maria?
Compared to geology of the Lunar Highlands: ● Lunar highlands have more impact craters than the mare. So, the highlands are older. They are the same age as the highlands because both features were formed by the hardening of lava.
How do we know that the maria formed more recently than the highlands on the Moon?
Scientists can tell this happened recently, in geological terms, because the maria have fewer impact craters than the highland areas.
What are the main differences between the Moon’s 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. 1.
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.
Are the lunar highlands older or younger than 3.2 3.8 billion years?
6.2 Lunar Cratering History and the Lunar Cataclysm
It also established that the intense cratering of the highlands occurred more than 3.8 billion years ago. Most highland samples have ages in the range 3.8–4.3 billion years.
What method can be used to determine the relative age of the lunar maria?
The method of crater counting CAN accurately be used to relative date the lunar mare and… Crater counting is a simple concept. The age of basalt flows on the moon can be accomplished by counting the number of impacts on the site. The more craters there are in the area, the older the location.
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!
How do we know that the lunar highlands are an older surface than the lunar maria quizlet?
How do we know that the lunar highlands are an older surface than the lunar maria? The highlands have more craters per square kilometer.
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.
Which are younger the maria or the craters?
The lunar maria (or plains), which were formed between 3.1 and 3.9 billion years ago, are the youngest geologic units on the lunar surface, except for more recent impact craters. The release of heat from large impacts caused extensive melting and extrusion of basaltic lavas on the moon.
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.)
Is maria or Terrae older?
Radiometric dates obtained on samples of terrae rocks confirm, as was believed earlier, that the terrae are older than the maria. Although the terrae are highly modified, they are composed of rock material that formed very early in the Moon’s history by the process of magmatic differentiation.
What is the main evidence for the age of the Moon?
Scientists say they have figured out the most precise age for the Moon than ever before, thanks to samples of lunar rocks gathered during NASA’s Apollo 14 mission. Analysis of the rocks pinpoint the Moon’s creation to 4.51 billion years ago, just 60 million years after the Solar System first formed.
What is the difference between the lunar highlands and the lunar maria How were the lunar maria formed?
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.
Why do the lunar maria have a darker color than the highland regions?
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.
Are the lunar highlands the oldest?
The oldest lunar features are the lunar highlands. This is mainly determined by looking at the number of impact craters that the different areas of the moon have. The longer that a feature has been around, the more time it has had to be hit by the meteors that leave impact craters.
How did scientists determine the age of the oldest Earth and moon rocks?
The ages of Earth and Moon rocks and of meteorites are measured by the decay of long-lived radioactive isotopes of elements that occur naturally in rocks and minerals and that decay with half lives of 700 million to more than 100 billion years to stable isotopes of other elements.
How did Earth look 4.5 billion years ago?
Once upon a time, about 4.5 billion years ago, the Earth was an unformed doughnut of molten rock called a synestia — and the moon was hidden in the filling. That’s one possible explanation for the moon’s formation, anyway.
What are the two methods of determining the age of rock?
There are two main ways to determine the age of a rock, these are Relative dating and Absolute dating. Relative dating is used to determine the relative order of past events by comparing the age of one object to another.
What are the two different methods in determining the age of the Earth?
Absolute and Relative Dating Methods
The methods of absolute dating used depends on whether suitable samples are available for testing. Relative dating is the science of determining the relative order of past events, without necessarily determining their absolute age (see below).