Auxotectonics Forum

Ref: http://www.continuitystudios.net/clip03.html
Ref: http://www.continuitystudios.net/clip09.html

Another great video by Neal Adams... keeps it simple basic observations. The comparisons to a simple geode I find pretty uncanny.

Light Storm » Fri Aug 03, 2012 9:14 am wrote:Ref: http://www.continuitystudios.net/clip03.html
Ref: http://www.continuitystudios.net/clip09.html

Another great video by Neal Adams... keeps it simple basic observations. The comparisons to a simple geode I find pretty uncanny.

It seems even NASA may think the Moon is expanding.



Edit youtube link. You must put the video ID, the part after the question mark in the URL, not the full URL.

Interesting,

This video comes from NASA, from this page.

One quote from Thomas Watters is very instructive: "We think the moon is in a general state of global contraction because of cooling of a still hot interior"
Always the same assumption that the telluric bodies must be cooling and thus contracting. I bet they were surprised to find grabens! Especially less than 50 Ma old!

Also the lobate scarps are interpreted as evidence of the moon contraction, but I wonder if they explored the hypothesis that these thrust faults formed at the front of nappes?

Anyway, this research was published in Nature Geoscience in march 2012:
Watters et al, Recent extensional tectonics on the Moon revealed by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, (2012) Nature Geoscience 5, 181–185

The cause of the graben is discussed in the paper, but no clear conclusion arise from the discussion. Shallow intrusion is discussed.
Some of the grabens seem to be associated with lobate scarps, suggesting that they are somewhat coupled. Their origin could be an uplift leading to surface extension coupled to outward compression and nappe formation.

Interesting paper…

Prof. Pascual Jordan suggested in his book, Expanding Earth, that the numerous rilles and valleys on our Moon indicate expansion. Here’s a short video illustrating some of his ideas.



Details about Prof. Jordan’s book are available in this Amazon list of Expanding Earth books.