Lunar Rivers
Mature meanders in lunar sinuous rills strongly suggests that the rills are features of surface erosion by water. Such erosion could occur under a pressurizing ice cover in the absence of a lunar atmosphere. Water, outgassed from the lunar interior and trapped beneath a layer of permafrost, could be...
Published in: | Science |
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Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
1968
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.161.3838.266 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.161.3838.266 |
Summary: | Mature meanders in lunar sinuous rills strongly suggests that the rills are features of surface erosion by water. Such erosion could occur under a pressurizing ice cover in the absence of a lunar atmosphere. Water, outgassed from the lunar interior and trapped beneath a layer of permafrost, could be released by a meteoritic impact and overflow the crater to form an ice-covered river. A sinuous rill could be eroded in about 100 years. |
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