Just like our planet experiences earthquakes, tectonic plate movements on the Moon causes quakes too, according to a study by an Indian researcher. The basis for the claim is an analysis of photos taken by Chandrayaan-1, the country’s first lunar probe which gave a significant boost to our space program.
Images sourced from south polar region of the Moon by Chandrayaan-1 hint at the presence of tectonic plates that make up the crust and upper surface. When these move against each other due to various reasons science hasn’t been able to fully explain even here on the Earth, quakes are caused.
The discovery was made by Saumitra Mukherjee who works as Professor of Geology and Remote Sensing at the School of Environmental Sciences in Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Priyadarshini Singh who’s a student at the university. The images providing clues to the occurrence of quakes on the Moon, were captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera and Narrow Angle camera aboard Chandrayaan-1.
Mukherjee had help on the analysis from the Space Application Center in Ahmadabad which is part of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The details of the study appear in various publications including IEEE geoscience and remote sensing letters, Frontiers in Earth Science and Nature India. This is not the first time research has raised the possibility of the Moon displaying plate tectonics.
Also see: Moon was born 4.47 billion years ago, say scientists
In 2009, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) photographed long, thin valleys called graben on the Moon’s surface. Based on this, it was theorized that quakes occurred there within the last 50 million years. Scientists also think the Moon has a core, just like the Earth. Mukherjee believes a comparative study of the two can be carried out if their structures are similar, says PTI.
Researchers may be able to predict quakes on the Moon going ahead, by analyzing tectonic plate movements on the Moon and comparing them with earthquakes.