Moon Is Shrinking: Study Says It Has Lost Some Inches Around The Waist, Warns Of More Moonshakes, Landslides

Unlike Earth’s tremors, these lunar quakes persist for hours, echoing like cosmic drum solos across the desolate landscape.

A recent study has revealed that our Moon has lost some inches around the waist — or 150 feet in circumference, to be precise — as its core cooled down during the past few hundred million years. And this may not bode well for all our Moon-faring missions.. Amid plans to colonize by 2040, the revelation of lunar shrinkage – 150 feet in circumference over millions of years – poses significant challenges for future missions, according to a new study funded by Nasa and published in the Planetary Science Journal.

The research, led by Tom Watters of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, indicates that the south-polar region of the Moon could experience shallow moonquakes capable of producing significant ground shaking. These quakes can occur due to slip events on existing faults or the formation of new thrust faults as the Moon undergoes global shrinking.

“The global distribution of young thrust faults, their potential to be active, and the potential to form new thrust faults from ongoing global contraction should be considered when planning the location and stability of permanent outposts on the Moon,” Watters explained.

Highlighting concerns, researchers have identified a concentration of faults near the Moon’s South Pole, slated for the Artemis III landing in 2026. The region, teeming with potential moonquake epicentres, poses risks for future lunar endeavours. Visualize lunar habitats quivering, instruments trembling, and regolith cascading down slopes in lunar landslides.

In report further said that the team linked a group of faults located in the moon’s south polar region to one of the most powerful moonquakes recorded by Apollo seismometers over 50 years ago. Using models to simulate the stability of surface slopes in the region, the team found that some areas were particularly vulnerable to landslides from seismic shaking.

“Our modeling suggests that shallow moonquakes capable of producing strong ground shaking in the south polar region are possible from slip events on existing faults or the formation of new thrust faults,” said the study’s lead author Thomas R. Watters, a senior scientist emeritus in the National Air and Space Museum’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies.”

“The global distribution of young thrust faults, their potential to be active and the potential to form new thrust faults from ongoing global contraction should be considered when planning the location and stability of permanent outposts on the moon.”

According to Nicholas Schmerr, a co-author of the paper and an associate professor of geology at the University of Maryland, this means that shallow moonquakes can devastate hypothetical human settlements on the moon.

Unlike Earth’s tremors, these lunar quakes persist for hours, echoing like cosmic drum solos across the desolate landscape.

“You can think of the moon’s surface as being dry, grounded gravel and dust. Over billions of years, the surface has been hit by asteroids and comets, with the resulting angular fragments constantly getting ejected from the impacts,” Schmerr explained.

“As a result, the reworked surface material can be micron-sized to boulder-sized, but all very loosely consolidated. Loose sediments make it very possible for shaking and landslides to occur.”