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The Quaking and Shrinking Moon

15 May 2019
Astronomy

At www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7023841/ … the Moon has earthquakes – and is shrinking. Moonquakes occur because the Moon is tectonically active – and they cause it to wrinkle like a dried grape (a raisin). Its internal parts are thought to be cooling which cause its surface to contract – or that is the explanation. The brittle surface at the crust cracks and forms step like cliffs or scarps.

   … the image shows a fault line on the Moon. The same story is at www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190513112233.htm … where the story features two faults found in the vicinity of moonquakes. On earth faults are sometimes associated with plate boundaries – but there are no plates on the moon. Fault lines are of course very common almost everywhere on the earth and do not exclusively have an association with plate tectonics. It seems the planet Mercury has enormous faults up to 600 miles in length – and there are no plates there either. Falls of boulders seen on the moon may be due to moon quakes – but see also www.nature.com/articles/s41561-019-0362-2

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