2024-03-27 05:00:12
The seismic activity of the Moon, much more intense than previously thought, has been highlighted by a recent study.
By revisiting data left behind from NASA’s Apollo missions, scientists have discovered more than 22,000 unknown lunar earthquakes, increasing the number nearly threefold total of seismic events identified on our satellite naturel.
Lunar earthquakes, or selenoseisms, occur due to movements within the Moon, similar to earthquakes. terre on earth. However, unlike the latter, selenoseisms are mainly caused by variations in temperature and meteorite impacts, the Moon not having tectonic plates. These earthquakes are generally less intense than those on Earth. During the Apollo missions, between 1969 and 1977, approximately 13,000 selenoseisms were recorded. A new analysis, however, discovered 22,000 additional earthquakes, bringing the total to 35,000. This re-evaluation work revealed that the Moon may be more seismically active than previously thought, suggesting previously unknown surprises in the data 50 years old.
The Apollo astronauts deployed two types of seismometers on the Moon, one recording seismic movements in 3D over long periods, and the other capturing rapid tremors over short periods. It is in these short period data, long neglected due to interference, that a large part of the new selenoseisms has been identified.
These discoveries indicate that some of these earthquakes come from more superficial points than previously thought, which could modify our understanding of the mechanisms at the origin of these earthquakes. However, additional data are needed to confirm these hypotheses.
Recent and future lunar missions could help scientists better understand selenoseisms. In August 2023, the Vikram lander of India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission detected the first selenoseism since the Apollo missions, marking a significant advance in our knowledge of Earth.activity lunar seismic.
The results of this study were presented at the Lunar Science Conference and Planetary and are currently being reviewed by the Journal of Geophysical Research.
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