Moon still geologically active

The moon may still have tectonic activities in recent years, according to a new study published Sunday in the American journal Nature Geoscience. Different from the Earth, on which the crusts still shifting fiercely, the moon had long been thought cooled off too long ago to have any tectonic activity. However, scientists recently spotted tiny trench-like features known as graben on the moon's far-side highlands as they analyzed the images of lunar surface captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The graben, about 500 meters wide and 1.8 kilometers long, was considered being formed within the past 50 million years for its well-preserved appearance from being marred by meteoroids over time. The finding suggests that the moon is still geologically active in recent years. Scientist hope the finding can help in the study on the moon's formation. "This may lend support to the scenarios that the moon was not completely molten when it formed, that only part of it was, forming a magma ocean," said study lead author Thomas Watters, a planetary scientist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, United States. Scientists in future research will analyze more graben in lunar photos once the satellite finishes imaging the moon, he added.