BIG Moonquakes!
Published on 6 Feb 2007 at 12:19 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under Astronomy, Exploration, Geology, Research.
Lauren, a student in my star systems class stopped by today and told me that she had read an article about moonquakes. In the period from 1972 and 1977 the seismometers recorded quite a bit of lunar seismic activity.
There are four kinds of moonquakes:
1. Deep moonquakes (about 700 km below the surface) probably linked to tidal forces from the Earth.
2. Vibrations from the impact of meteorites.
3. Quakes caused from surface thermal expansion as the sun rises after two weeks of cold lunar night.
4. Shallow quakes from about 20-30 kilometers below the surface.
The last batch are the troublemakers. In the time from 1972 to 1977 there were 28 of them, with some as strong as 5.5 on the Richter Scale! The second problem is that the moons rigid crust (not having been weakened by water) rings like a bell. These large quakes last on the order of 10 minutes!!
This has serious implications for the construction of a Moon Base!
Especially since they are considering the rim of Shakleton Crater on the south pole of the Moon, since it is always sunlight. However, they have no seismic data from the region, so its not clear how much of a problem moonquakes could be.
Kevin H Knuth
Albany NY
Dan on 1 Nov 2008 at 11:16 am: 1
I never new there were “moonquakes”, guess you learn something new everyday, good article.