title: Evidence of recent thrust faulting on the Moon revealed by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera.
abstract: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera images reveal previously undetected lobate thrust-fault scarps and associated meter-scale secondary tectonic landforms that include narrow extensional troughs or graben, splay faults, and multiple low-relief terraces. Lobate scarps are among the youngest landforms on the Moon, based on their generally crisp appearance, lack of superposed large-diameter impact craters, and the existence of crosscut small-diameter impact craters. Identification of previously known scarps was limited to high-resolution Apollo Panoramic Camera images confined to the equatorial zone. Fourteen lobate scarps were identified, seven of which are at latitudes greater than +/-60 degrees, indicating that the thrust faults are globally distributed. This detection, coupled with the very young apparent age of the faults, suggests global late-stage contraction of the Moon.
authors: Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA. watterst@si.edu
authors: Thomas R
authors: TR
authors: Watters
authors: Mark S
authors: MS
authors: Robinson
authors: Ross A
authors: RA
authors: Beyer
authors: Maria E
authors: ME
authors: Banks
authors: James F
authors: JF
authors: Bell
authors: Matthew E
authors: ME
authors: Pritchard
authors: Harald
authors: H
authors: Hiesinger
authors: Carolyn H
authors: CH
authors: van der Bogert
authors: Peter C
authors: PC
authors: Thomas
authors: Elizabeth P
authors: EP
authors: Turtle
authors: Nathan R
authors: NR
authors: Williams