China released most detailed geological map of the Moon to date

09 Jun 2022 Michael Banks

Courtesy: Science Bulletin 10.1016/j.scib.2022.05.021. © 2022 Science China Press. Reproduced with permission of Elsevier

Scientists in China have released a new geologic map of the Moon that is the most detailed yet. Created by a team led by the Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the image was made using data from China’s suite of Chang’e lunar exploration missions as well as information from other international organizations.

The map is to a scale of 1:2500000 and includes 12,341 impact craters, 81 impact basins, 17 rock types and 14 types of structures.

The colours on the image represent different periods on the lunar geologic timescale and the map also includes the locations of the Chang’e and Apollo landing sites.

In 2020 the United States Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Centre released a lunar map with a scale of 1:5000000. It took into account information from six Apollo-era regional maps along with more recent data from lunar satellite missions.

Michael Banks is news editor of Physics World magazine

from physicsworld.com   11/6/2022