The complex geomorphology of the lunar surface has been formed by a combination of processes, especially impact cratering and impact cratering.
What are the two main geological features of the Moon’s surface?
The lunar surface can be divided into two main regions, the highlands and the maria. The highlands make up roughly 83 percent of the moon’s surface, whereas the maria make up about 17 percent of its surface. Both of these regions have a characteristic density of craters from meteor impacts.
What geological processes shaped our Moon?
The primary geologic processes that shaped the moon are the formation of craters, volcanic activity, and tectonic activity.
What major geological process do we see shaping the surface of the Earth today that appears to be missing from Venus today?
Its surface shows evidence of major volcanic or tectonic activity in the past billion years, and it should retain nearly as much internal heat as Earth. However, geological activity on Venus differs from that on Earth in at least two key ways: lack of erosion and lack of plate tectonics.
What processes created surface features on the Moon?
The majority of the moon’s craters are impact craters, which formed when meteoroids, asteroids, or comets collided with the moon’s surface. A meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body that ranges in size from a small grain to one meter.
What is the best known feature on the surface of the Moon?
Mare Crisium
This 620x570km lunar sea is one of the most distinctive features on the Moon. Located close to the eastern limb, it’s clearly visible to the naked eye as a dark oval patch. Unlike the other seas, the Mare Crisium is completely detached.
What are 3 important surface features of the Moon?
There are three main surface features of the Moon: highlands, maria, and craters. The highlands, which are old mountains made of igneous rocks, make up about 83 percent of the Moon’s surface. Maria are the dark areas that we see when we look at the Moon from Earth. These are old lava flows that cooled on the surface.
What are 3 geological processes that have shaped Earth?
Geological processes
- Erosion. Erosion involves the movement of rock fragments through gravity, wind, rain, rivers, oceans and glaciers.
- Weathering. Weathering is the wearing down or breaking of rocks while they are in place.
- Deposition.
- Landforms.
- Relief.
What caused the surface of the Moon to look the way it does?
The Moon doesn’t emit (give off) light itself, the ‘moonlight’ we see is actually the Sun’s light reflected off the lunar surface. So, as the Moon orbits the Earth, the Sun lights up different parts of it, making it seem as if the Moon is changing shape.
What are the three major processes that shape Earth’s surface?
The physical processes on Earth create constant change. These processes—including movement in the tectonic plates in the crust, wind and water erosion, and deposition—shape features on Earth’s surface.
What are the 2 geological processes?
Geologic Processes
Melting – responsible for creating magmas that result in volcanism. Deformation – responsible for earthquakes, volcanism, landslides, subsidence.
What is the most important process shaping the Earth’s surface?
Wind, water, and ice erode and shape the land. Volcanic activity and earthquakes alter the landscape in a dramatic and often violent manner. And on a much longer timescale, the movement of earth’s plates slowly reconfigures oceans and continents. Each one of these processes plays a role in the Arctic and Antarctica.
What is the process of shaping the Earth’s geological surface?
The correct answer is Geomorphic process. The geomorphic Process is the process responsible for the formation and alteration of the earth’s surface. The physical and chemical interactions between the earth’s surface and the natural forces acting upon it to produce landforms.
What are the main features of the Moon’s surface?
The Moon’s surface has hundreds of thousands of craters. The craters can be large (hundreds of kilometers) to as small as one meter. RAYS – Rays are bright streaks of debris that radiate from some large craters. They may be as long as 3000 km.
What two elements can be processed from material on the Moon?
Oxygen and perhaps hydrogen gases can be produced for propellant and life support. This is a very good list of potential early raw materials for use on the Moon or in space.
What is the surface of the Moon made of?
The average composition of the lunar surface by weight is roughly 43% oxygen, 20% silicon, 19% magnesium, 10% iron, 3% calcium, 3% aluminum, 0.42% chromium, 0.18% titanium and 0.12% manganese. Orbiting spacecraft have found traces of water on the lunar surface that may have originated from deep underground.
What is the most accepted theory of how the Moon formed?
What is most widely accepted today is the giant-impact theory. It proposes that the Moon formed during a collision between the Earth and another small planet, about the size of Mars. The debris from this impact collected in an orbit around Earth to form the Moon.
What are two geological processes that form mountains?
Weathering and erosion are geologic processes that shape Earth’s landforms over vast periods of time through the actions of water, wind, ice, and gravity.
What are the two types of process that form and change landforms of the earth?
Tectonic plate movement under Earth can create landforms by pushing up mountains and hills. Erosion by water and wind can wear down land and create landforms like valleys and canyons. Both processes happen over a long period of time, sometimes millions of years.
What is the importance of the Earth’s geological processes?
Geology looks at some of the most important issues in society today including energy sources and sustainability, climate change, the impacts of developments on the environment, water management, mineral resources and natural hazards.
What is the main reason that the surface of the Moon looks very different from Earth’s surface?
The landscape of the Moon – its surface features – is very different from Earth. The lunar landscape is covered by craters caused by asteroid impacts (Figure below). The craters are bowl-shaped basins on the Moon’s surface. Because the Moon has no water, wind, or weather, the craters remain unchanged.