Radiometric dates obtained on samples of terrae rocks confirm, as was believed earlier, that the terrae are older than the maria.
What is the difference between maria and Terrae?
Maria is the plural, seas (pronounced Mah-ree-a). While we see much of this when viewed from earth, only 17% of the lunar surface is classed as maria. These were mistaken by early astronomers for seas and are also known as the lowlands. Terrae is the collective name for highlands.
Is maria or the highlands younger?
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.
Are the lunar highlands older than the maria?
Compared to geology of the Lunar Highlands: ● Lunar highlands have more impact craters than the mare. So, the highlands are older.
What is the age of the maria?
between 3.1 and 3.9 billion years ago
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.
Which of these lunar features is the oldest?
the lunar highlands
Answer and Explanation: 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.
How many mare are on the Moon?
There are about 20 major areas of this type, most of them—including the largest ones—located on the side of the Moon that always faces Earth. Maria are the largest topographic features on the Moon and can be seen from Earth with the unaided eye.
Why are maria so smooth?
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 old are the highlands on the Moon?
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.
How old are the Rilles on the Moon?
Among these are cracks in the lunar surface known as rilles – a name derived from the German for groove. Most rilles (also called rimae) are believed to be around 3.6 billion years old.
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 are the oldest lunar rocks?
Oldest Moon Rocks. The Apollo missions sampled ancient lunar crustal rocks. These rocks are about 4.5 billion years old, indicating that parts of the Moon’s crust solidified soon after the Moon formed.
What is the oldest lunar crater?
the South Pole-Aitken basin
Stretching 1,550 miles (2,500 kilometers) wide and 8 miles (13 km) deep, the South Pole-Aitken basin, as the tremendous hole is known to Earthlings, is the oldest and deepest crater on the moon, and one of the largest craters in the entire solar system.
Why is the maria dark?
The maria appear dark due to their high iron and titanium content that lead to about half of the highlands albedo. The highlands are formed by anorthosite that is a porous rock composed mainly of plagioclase feldspar.
How old is the mare Serenitatis?
between 3.9 and 3.8 thousand million years ago
Mare Serenitatis is one of the lunar maria, that are vast lava plains on the lunar surface. It formed between 3.9 and 3.8 thousand million years ago, a period in which the Moon was heavily bombarded by asteroids and the major impact basins on the Moon were formed.
What are the characteristics of Terrae?
Basins, the principal features of the lunar terrae, are essentially large craters with more than one conspicuous concentric mountain ring. In the west half of this mosaic are two raised basin rings separated by a trough (between arrows) partly filled with mare lavas and light plains deposits.
What is the second oldest moon?
Callisto (moon)
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Galileo Galilei |
| Discovery date | 7 January 1610 |
| Designations | |
| Pronunciation | /kəˈlɪstoʊ/ |
Which lunar feature is the youngest?
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.
Which craters seem the oldest?
The Vredefort impact crater, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Johannesburg, South Africa, was formed just a little over 2 billion years ago. It is the oldest and largest impact crater recognized on Earth’s surface.
Which of the mare is the largest?
Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers) is a huge, round circular sea, 760 miles in diameter. The smaller Mare Serenitatis (Sea of Serenity, 400 miles across) can be seen immediately to the east of Mare Imbrium.
Will it rain in moon?
The moon has a very thin atmosphere so it cannot trap heat or insulate the surface. There is no wind there, no clouds, no rain, no snow and no storms, but there is “day and night” and there are extreme differences in temperatures depending on where the sun is shining.