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The moon is cooling and shrinking, wrinkled like a raisin, causing an earthquake

Original title: NASA: the moon is shrinking like a raisin, prone to 'moonquakes'

NASA's latest research shows that the moon is shrinking due to internal cooling, forming faults, which are like grapes becoming raisins. This process further triggered earthquakes on the surface of the moon.

Analysis of more than 12000 images shows that the 'cold sea' in the lunar basin near the lunar north pole has cracked and moved. Because the moon has no tectonic plates. Since the moon formed 4.5 billion years ago and began to lose heat, its tectonic activities have taken place.

As the interior of the moon cools, the surface of the moon breaks as it shrinks, leading to so-called thrust faults, that is, parts of the earth's crust are pushed over adjacent parts. As a result, the moon has' thinned 'by about 50 meters in the past few hundred million years.

"These faults are probably still active today," said Nicholas schmael, an assistant professor of geology at the University of Maryland. 'you rarely see active structures anywhere but the earth, so it's exciting to think that these faults may still be triggering earthquakes on the moon. '

Extended reading:

Meteors' hit 'water vapor! Help explain the distribution of water resources on the moon

A lunar probe has observed how water vapor from lunar soil enters the thin air around the moon after a meteor hits the surface of the moon, NASA said recently.

According to the report, NASA researchers reported on Nature & middot; geoscience in the UK on the 15th that the lunar atmosphere and dust environment probe observed the scene of meteor impact on the moon on January 9, April 2, April 5 and April 9, 2014.

The water content in the thin air around the moon is not high, so when a meteor hits the moon, the water vapor from the lunar soil can be detected even if it only exists briefly in the air, said erfik, a scientist of the probe project.

Analysis shows that as long as the meteor can drill eight centimeters below the surface of the moon, it can knock out the water molecules contained there. Due to the loose material on the surface of the moon, a meteor with a diameter of about 5 mm hit the surface of the moon, which was enough to blow water vapor into the air.

Based on the observation results, the researchers calculated that the 'aquifer' in lunar soil is actually quite dry, with a water content of only two to five ten thousandths, which is drier than the driest soil on earth. Treating one ton of lunar soil can only get less than 500 grams of water.

Observations show that about two-thirds of the water vapor emitted by the meteor escaped into space, and about one-third returned to the lunar surface.

Asked whether the observed water vapor might come from meteors, the researchers said that the amount of water vapor in meteors is greater than the amount of water in meteors, so some of it must come from the moon. They believe the study helps to explain the distribution of water on the moon.