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Surface of the Moon, Distribution of Materials and Structures

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Encyclopedia of Lunar Science

Introduction

The surface of the moon is a critical window to understanding the entire moon using remote sensing. The moon surface consists of a layer of lunar regolith covering the underlying bedrock. Regolith is the layer or mantle of fragmented and unconsolidated rock material potentially residual or in transit and highly variable that forms the surface nearly everywhere (Jolliff et al. 2006). In addition to the interaction of high energy particles, the major physical changes that occur with lunar regolith maturation include comminution and agglutination between rocks and minerals. At the same time, the lunar structure that is formed by tectonic activities can lead to the uneven distribution of chemical elements and can provide information about rocks and minerals in the subsurface of lunar crust. In the end, the distribution and composition of lunar surface material can be described by four processes: petrology, mineralogy, element chemistry, and structural geology. In addition,...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Geo-Exploration Science and Technology, Jilin University, Jilin, China

    Shengbo Chen

Authors
  1. Shengbo Chen
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Correspondence to Shengbo Chen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Prairie View A&M University, Houston, Texas, USA

    Brian Cudnik

Section Editor information

  1. Key Laboratory of Lunar and Deep-space Exploration, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, PR China

    Yuanzhi Zhang Dr.

  2. College of Geo-exploration Science and Technology, Jinlin University, Changchun, People’s Republic of China

    Shengbo Chen Dr.

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Chen, S. (2018). Surface of the Moon, Distribution of Materials and Structures. In: Cudnik, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Lunar Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05546-6_44-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05546-6_44-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-05546-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-05546-6

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