The
geology of the Moon is quite different from that of the Earth. The Moon
lacks a true atmosphere, and the absence of oxygen and water eliminates erosion due to weather. Instead, the surface is eroded much more slowly through bombardment of the lunar surface by
micrometeorites. It lacks any known form of
plate tectonics,
has a lower gravitational acceleration, and cooled faster after
its formation because of its small size. In addition to impacts, the
geomorphology of the lunar surface has been shaped by
volcanism, which is now thought to have ended less than 50 million years ago. The Moon is a
differentiated body, with a
crust,
mantle, and
core. This global
geologic map of the Moon was published by Chinese
planetary geologists in 2022 at a
scale of 1 to 2.5 million at full resolution. Colours are used to indicate different
stratigraphic units corresponding to various periods of the
lunar geologic timescale, with structural features and
Moon landing sites also marked. The main map uses the
Mollweide projection. Two insets are provided for the northern and southern polar areas, as well as two smaller maps illustrating the
lithology and
tectonic units of the lunar surface.
Map credit: Jinzhu Ji et al.