An Indian scientist has revealed that as in Earth, Moon too has tectonic plates beneath its surface which causes quakes. Claims of quakes are based on the photos sent by Chandrayaan-1-India’s first lunar probe. Saumitra Mukherjee, Professor of Geology & Remote Sensing at School of Environmental Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University, along with his student Priyadarshini Singh observed the photos of the Moon which were taken with the help of Narrow Angle Camera and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera of Chandrayaan-1. The images shows the South Polar region of the Moon and spews clue in the presence of tectonic plates which cause quakes hen they move, similar to earthquakes.
Chandrayaan is India’s first lunar probe that worked till August 2009. The main aim of the mission was to make a 3-dimensional model of the Moon and for mapping of the chemical composition in its surface. Professor Saumitra Mukherjee said, that as of now, there isn’t any absolute method to predict quakes on the moon and we have to study the movements of its tectonic plates and later compare it with Earth to make a model of occurrences of quakes on the Moon.
In 2009, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) had sent photographs that showed thin valleys called Graben on the Moon’s surface. While examining the photos, researchers came to a conclusion that quakes occurred on the Moon nearly 50 million years ago.
"Tectonic plates at surface move due to mantle layer of the earth's core and the movement of tectonic plates on Moon establish that some material in liquid form is present under its surface too," Saumitra Mukherjee, Professor of Geology & Remote Sensing at School of Environmental Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University said. "In this way we can perceptually conclude that the Moon also have a core. Then it is also possible the structure of the Moon is similar to earth," the Professor said.
"So a comparative study of quakes on the Moon and earthquakes could be done," he said. "This finding is 'Make in India' in true sense as the data used in this study are provided by an Indian spacecraft and analysis of this data has also been done by Indian scientists," he said. Ahmedabad based Space Application Centre, an institute of Indian Space Research Organisation, helped them in the study.
By Premji
