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6 Surface of the Moon


6.1 Introduction
One can learn a lot about the Moon by looking at the lunar surface. Even before astronauts
landed on the Moon, scientists had enough data to formulate theories about the formation
and evolution of the Earth’s only natural satellite. However, since the Moon rotates once
for every time it orbits around the Earth, we can only see one side of the Moon from the
surface of the Earth. Until spacecraft were sent to orbit the Moon, we only knew half the
story.

The type of orbit our Moon makes around the Earth is called a synchronous orbit. This
phenomenon is shown graphically in Figure 6.1 below. If we imagine that there is one large
mountain on the hemisphere facing the Earth (denoted by the small triangle on the Moon),
then this mountain is always visible to us no matter where the Moon is in its orbit. As the
Moon orbits around the Earth, it turns slightly so we always see the same hemisphere.

Figure 6.1: The Moon’s synchronous orbit. (Not drawn to scale.)

On the Moon, there are extensive lava flows, rugged highlands and many impact craters
of all sizes. The overlapping of these features implies relative ages. Because of the lack of
ongoing mountain building processes, or weathering by wind and water, the accumulation
of volcanic processes and impact cratering is readily visible. Thus by looking at the images
of the Moon, one can trace the history of the lunar surface.

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• Lab Goals: to discuss the Moon’s terrain, craters, and the theory of relative ages; to
use pictures of the Moon to deduce relative ages and formation processes of surface
features

• Materials: Moon pictures, ruler, calculator

6.2 Craters and Maria


A crater is formed when a meteor from space strikes the lunar surface. The force of the
impact obliterates the meteorite and displaces part of the Moon’s surface, pushing the edges
of the crater up higher than the surrounding rock. At the same time, more displaced material
shoots outward from the crater, creating rays of ejecta. These rays of material can be seen
as radial streaks centered on some of the craters in some of the pictures you will be using
for your lab today. As shown in Figure 6.2, some of the material from the blast “flows”
back towards the center of the crater, creating a mountain peak. Some of the craters in the
photos you will examine today have these “central peaks”. Figure 6.2 also shows that the
rock beneath the crater becomes fractured (full of cracks).

Figure 6.2: Formation of an impact crater.

Soon after the Moon formed, its interior was mostly liquid. It was continually being hit by
meteors, and the energy (heat) from this period of intense cratering was enough to liquefy
the Moon’s interior. Every so often, a very large meteor would strike the surface, and
crack the M oon0 s crust. The over-pressured “lava” from the Moon’s molten mantle then
flowed up through the cracks made by the impact. The lava filled in the crater, creating a
dark, smooth “sea”. Such a sea is called a mare (plural: maria). Sometimes the amount of
lava that came out could overfill the crater. In those cases, it spilled out over the crater’s
edges and could fill in other craters as well as cover the bases of the highlands, the rugged,
rocky peaks on the surface of the Moon.

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6.3 Relative Ages on the Moon
Since the Moon does not have rain or wind erosion, astronomers can determine which features
on the Moon are older than others. It all comes down to counting the number of craters a
feature has. Since there is nothing on the Moon that can erase the presence of a crater, the
more craters something has, the longer it must have been around to get hit. For example, if
you have two large craters, and the first crater has 10 smaller craters in it, while the second
one has only 2 craters in it, we know that the first crater is older since it has been there long
enough to have been hit 10 times. If we look at the highlands, we see that they are covered
with lots and lots of craters. This tells us that in general, the highlands are older than the
maria, which have fewer craters. We also know that if we see a crater on top of a mare, the
mare is older. It had to be there in the first place to get hit by the meteor. Crater counting
can tell us which features on the Moon are older than other features, but it cannot tell us
the absolute age of the feature. To determine this, we need to use radioactive dating or some
other technique.

6.4 Lab Stations


In this lab you will be using a three-ring binder that contains images of the Moon divided
into separate sections, or “stations”. At some stations we present data comparing the Moon
to the Earth. Using your understanding of simple physical processes here on Earth and
information from the class lecture and your reading, you will make observations and draw
logical conclusions in much the same way that a planetary geologist would.

You should work in groups of 2–4 people, with one binder for each group. The binders
contain separate sections, or “stations,” with the photographs and/or images for each spe-
cific exercise. Each group must go through all the stations, and consider and discuss each
question and come to a conclusion. Remember to back up your answers with rea-
sonable explanations, and be sure to answer all of the questions. While you should
discuss the questions as a group, be sure to write down one group answer for each question.
The take-home questions must be done on your own. Answers for the take-home ques-
tions that are exact duplicates of those of other members of your group will not
be acceptable.

Station 1: Our first photograph (#1) is that of the full Moon. It is obvious that the Moon
has dark regions, and bright regions. The largest dark regions are the “maria,” while the
brighter regions are the “highlands.” In image #2, the largest features of the full Moon
are labeled. The largest of the maria on the Moon is Mare Imbrium (the “Sea of Showers”),
and it is easily located in the upper left quadrant of image #2. Locate Mare Imbrium. Let
us take a closer look at Mare Imbrium.

Image #3 is from the Lunar Orbiter IV. Before the Apollo missions landed humans on the
Moon, NASA sent several missions to the Moon to map its surface, and to make sure we
could safely land there. Lunar Orbiter IV imaged the Moon during May of 1967. The tech-

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nology of the time was primitive compared to today, and the photographs were built up by
making small imaging scans/slices of the surface (the horizontal striping can be seen in the
images), then adding them all together to make a larger photograph. Image #3 is one of
these images of Mare Imbrium seen from almost overhead.

1. Approximately how many craters can you see inside the dark circular region that de-
fines Mare Imbrium? Compare the number of craters in Mare Imbrium to the brighter
regions to the North (above) of Mare Imbrium. (3 points)

Images #4 and #5 are close-ups of small sections of Mare Imbrium. In image #4,
the largest crater (in the lower left corner) is “Le Verrier” (named after the French
mathematician who predicted the correct position for the planet Neptune). Le Verrier
is 20 km in diameter. In image #5, the two largest craters are named Piazzi Smyth
(just left of center) and Kirch (below and left of Piazzi Smyth). Piazzi Smyth has a
diameter of 13 km, while Kirch has a diameter of 11 km.

2. Using the diameters for the large craters noted above, and a ruler, what is the approx-
imate diameters of the smallest craters you can clearly see in images #4 and #5? If
the NMSU campus is about 1 km in diameter, compare the smallest crater you can see
to the size of our campus. (3 points)

In image #5 there is an isolated mountain (Mons Piton) located near Piazzi Smyth.
It is likely that Mons Piton is related to the range of mountains to its upper right.

3. Estimate the coverage of the Organ Mountains that are located to the east of Las

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Cruces. Estimate a width and a length, and assuming a rectangle, what is the approx-
imate area of the Organs? (2 points)

4. Roughly how much area (in km2 ) does Mons Piton cover? Compare it to the Organ
Mountains. How do you think such an isolated mountain came to exist? [Hint: In the
introduction to the lab exercises, the process of maria formation was described. Using
this idea, how might Mons Piton become so isolated from the mountain range to the
northeast?] (2 points)

Station 2: Now let’s move to the “highlands”. In Image #6 (which is identical to


image #2), the crater Clavius can be seen on the bottom edge—it is the bottom-most
labeled feature on this map. Image #7 shows a close-up picture of Clavius (just
below center) taken from the ground through a small telescope (this is similar to what
you would see at the campus observatory). Clavius is one of the largest craters on the
Moon, with a diameter of 225 km. In the upper right hand corner is one of the best
known craters on the Moon, “Tycho.” In image #1 you can identify Tycho by the
large number of bright “rays” that emanate from this crater. Tycho is a very young
crater, and the ejecta blasted out of the lunar surface spread very far from the impact
site.

Images #8 and #9 are two high resolution images of Clavius and nearby regions
taken by Lunar Orbiter IV (note the slightly different orientations from the ground-
based picture).

5. Compare the region around Clavius to Mare Imbrium. Scientists now know that the
lunar highlands are older than the maria. What evidence do you have (using these

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photographs) that supports this idea? [Hint: review section 7.3 of the introduction.]
(5 points)

Station 3: Comparing Apollo landing sites. Images #10 and #11 are close-ups
of the Apollo 11 landing site in Mare Tranquillitatis (the “Sea of Tranquility”). The
actual spot where the “Eagle” landed on July 20, 1969, is marked by the small cross in
image 11 (note that three small craters near the landing site have been named for the
crew of this mission: Aldrin, Armstrong and Collins). [There are also quite a number
of photographic defects in these pictures, especially the white circular blobs near the
center of the image to the North of the landing site.] The landing sites of two other
NASA spacecraft, Ranger 8 and Surveyor 5, are also labeled in image #11. NASA
made sure that this was a safe place to explore! Recently, a new mission to map the
Moon with better resolution called the “Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter” (LRO) sent
back images of the Apollo 11 landing site (image 11B). In this image LM is the base
of the lunar module, LRRR and PSEP are two science experiments. You can even see
the (faintly) disturbed soil where the astronauts walked!

Images #12 and #13 show the landing site of the last Apollo mission, #17. Apollo
17 landed on the Moon on December 11th, 1972. In image 13B is an LRO image of
the landing site. Note that during Apollo 17 they had a “rover” (identified with the
notation LRV) to drive around with. Compare the two landing sites.

6. Describe the logic that NASA used in choosing the two landing sites–why did they
choose the Tranquillitatis site for the first lunar landing? What do you think led them
to choose the Apollo 17 site? (5 points)

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The next two sets of images show photographs taken by the astronauts while on the
Moon. The first three photographs (#14, #15, and #16) are scenes from the Apollo
11 site, while the next three (#17, #18, and #19) were taken at the Apollo 17 land-
ing site.

7. Do the photographs from the actual landing sites back-up your answer to why NASA
chose these two sites? How? Explain your reasoning. (5 points)

Station 4: On the northern-most edge of Mare Imbrium sits the crater Plato (labeled
in images #2 and #6). Image #20 is a close-up of Plato.

8. Do you agree with the theory that the crater floor has been recently flooded? Is the
maria that forms the floor of this crater younger, older, or approximately the same
age as the nearby region of Mare Imbrium located just to the South (below) of Plato?
Explain your reasoning. (4 points)

Station 5: Images #21 and #22 are “topographical” maps of the Earth and of
the Moon. A topographical map shows the elevation of surface features. On the Earth
we set “sea level” as the zero point of elevation. Continents, like North America, are
above sea level. The ocean floors are below sea level. In the topographical map of the
Earth, you can make out the United States. The Eastern part of the US is lower than
the Western part. In topographical maps like these, different colors indicate different
heights. Blue and dark blue areas are below sea level, while green areas are just above
sea level. The highest mountains are colored in red (note that Greenland and Antarc-
tica are both colored in red–they have high elevations due to very thick ice sheets). We
can use the same technique to map elevations on the Moon. Obviously, the Moon does
not have oceans to define “sea level.” Thus, the definition of zero elevation is more ar-
bitrary. For the Moon, sea level is defined by the average elevation of the lunar surface.

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Image #22 is a topographical map for the Moon, showing the highlands (orange, red,
and pink areas), and the lowlands (green, blue, and purple). [Grey and black areas
have no data.] The scale is shown at the top. The lowest points on the Moon are 10
km below sea level, while the highest points are about 10 km above sea level. On the
left hand edge (the “y-axis”) is a scale showing the latitude. 0◦ latitude is the equator,
just like on the Earth. Like the Earth, the North pole of the Moon has a latitude
of +90◦ , and the south pole is at −90◦ . On the x-axis is the longitude of the Moon.
Longitude runs from 0◦ to 360◦ . The point at 0◦ latitude and longitude of the Moon
is the point on the lunar surface that is closest to the Earth.

It is hard to recognize features on the topographical map of the Moon because of


the complex surface (when compared to the Earth’s large smooth areas). But let’s go
ahead and try to find the objects we have been studying. First, see if you can find
Plato. The latitude of Plato is +52◦ N, and its longitude is 351◦ . You can clearly see
the outline of Plato if you look closely.

9. Is Plato located in a high region, or a low region? Is Plato lower than Mare Imbrium
(centered at 32◦ N, 344◦ )? [Remember that Plato is on the Northern edge of Mare
Imbrium.](4 points)

As described in the introduction, the Moon keeps the same face pointed towards Earth
at all times. We can only see the “far-side” of the Moon from a spacecraft. In image
#22, the hemisphere of the Moon that we can see runs from a longitude of 270◦ , passing
through 0◦ , and going all the way to 90◦ (remember, 0 is located at the center of the
Moon as seen from Earth). Image #23 is a more conventional topographical map of
the Moon, showing the two hemispheres: near side, and far side.

10. Compare the average elevation of the near-side of the Moon to that of the far-side.
Are they different? Explain. Can you make out the maria? Compare the number of
maria on the far side to the number on the near side. (4 points)

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[Why the far side of the Moon is so different from the near side remains a mystery!]

Station 6: With the surface of the Moon now familiar to you, and your percep-
tion of the surface of the Earth in mind, compare the Earth’s surface to the surface
of the Moon. Does the Earth’s surface have more craters or fewer craters than the
surface of the Moon? Discuss two differences between the Earth and the Moon that
could explain this. (5 points)

6.5 The Chemical Composition of the Moon: Keys to its Ori-


gin
Station 7: Now we want to examine the chemical composition of the Moon to reveal
its history and origin. The formation of planets (and other large bodies in the solar
system like the Moon) is a violent process. Planets grow through the process of ac-
cretion: the gravity of the young planet pulls on nearby material, and this material
crashes into the young planet, heating it, and creating large craters. In the earliest
days of the solar system, so much material was being accreted by the planets that they
were completely molten. That is, they were in the form of liquid rock, like the lava you
see flowing from some volcanoes on the Earth. Just as with water, denser objects in
molten rock sink to the bottom more quickly than less dense material. This is also true
for chemical elements. Iron is one of the heaviest of the common elements, and it sinks
toward the center of a planet more quickly than elements like silicon, aluminum, or
magnesium. Thus, near the Earth’s surface, rocks composed of these lighter elements
dominate. In lava, however, we are seeing molten rock from deeper in the Earth coming
to the surface, and thus lava and other volcanic (or “igneous”) rock can be rich in iron,
nickel, titanium, and other high-density elements.

Images #24 and 25 present two unique views of the Moon obtained by the space-
craft Clementine. Using special sensors, Clementine could make maps of the surface
composition of the Moon. Image #24 is a map of the amount of iron on the surface of
the Moon (“hotter” colors mean more iron than cooler colors). Image #25 is the same
type of map, but for titanium.

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11. Compare the distribution of iron and titanium to the surface features of the Moon
(using images #1, #2 or #6, or the topographical map in image #23). Where are the
highest concentrations of iron and titanium found? (5 points)

12. If the heavy elements like iron and titanium sank towards the center of the Moon soon
after it formed, what does the presence of large amounts of iron and titanium in the
maria suggest? [Hint: do you remember how maria are formed?] (5 points)

A cut-away diagram of the Earth is shown in the Figure 6.3. There are three main
structures: the crust (where we live), the mantle, and the core. The crust is cool and
brittle, the mantle is hotter and “plastic” (it flows), and the core is very hot and very
dense. As you may recall from the Density lab, the density of a material is simply its
mass (in grams or kilograms) divided by its volume (in cubic centimeters or meters).
Water has a density of 1 gm/cm3 . The density of the Earth’s crust is about 3 gm/cm3 ,
while the mantle has a density of 4.5 gm/cm3 . The core is very dense: 14 gm/cm3
(this is partly due to its composition, and partly due to the great pressure exerted by
the mass located above the core). The core of the Earth is almost pure iron, while the
mantle is a mixture of magnesium, silicon, iron and oxygen. The average density of
the Earth is 5.5 gm/cm3 .

Before the astronauts brought back rocks from the Moon, we did not have a good
theory about its formation. All we knew was that the Moon had an average density
of 3.34 gm/cm3 . If the Moon formed from the same material as the Earth, their
compositions would be nearly identical, as would their average densities. In Table 6.1,

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Figure 6.3: The internal structure of the Earth, showing the dimensions of the crust, mantle
and core, as well as their composition and temperatures.

we present a comparison of the compositions of the Moon and the Earth. The data
for the Moon comes from analysis of the rocks brought back by the Apollo astronauts.

Table 6.1: Composition of the Earth & Moon.


Element Earth Moon
Iron 34.6% 3.5%
Oxygen 29.5% 60.0%
Silicon 15.2% 16.5%
Magnesium 12.7% 3.5%
Titanium 0.05% 1.0%

13. Is the Moon composed of the same proportion of elements as the Earth? What are
the biggest differences? Does this support a model where the Moon formed out of the
same material as the Earth? (5 points)

As you will learn in lecture, the terrestrial planets in our solar system (Mercury, Venus,
Earth and Mars) have higher densities than the jovian planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus

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and Neptune). One theory for the formation of the Moon is that it formed near Mars,
and “migrated” inwards to be captured by the Earth. This theory arose because the
density of Mars, 3.9 gm/cm3 , is similar to that of the Moon. But Mars is rich in iron
and magnesium: 17% of Mars is iron, and more than 15% is magnesium.

14. Given this information, do you think it is likely that the Moon formed out near Mars?
Why? (5 points)

The currently accepted theory for the formation of the Moon is called the “Giant
Impact” theory. In this model, a large body (about the size of Mars) collided with
the Earth, and the resulting explosion sent a large amount of material into space.
This material eventually collapsed (coalesced) to form the Moon. Most of the ejected
material would have come from the crust and the mantle of the Earth, since it is the
material closest to the Earth’s surface. Table 6.2 shows the composition of the Earth’s
crust and mantle compared to that of the Moon.

Table 6.2: Chemical Composition of the Earth (crust and mantle) and Moon.
Element Earth’s Crust and Mantle Moon
Iron 5.0% 3.5%
Oxygen 46.6% 60.0%
Silicon 27.7% 16.5%
Magnesium 2.1% 3.5%
Calcium 3.6% 4.0%

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15. Given the data in Table 6.2, present an argument for why the giant impact theory
probably is now the favorite theory for the formation of the Moon. Can you think of
a reason why the compositions might not be exactly the same? (3 points)

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