Apollo 14 Active Seismic Experiment

Explosion seismic refraction data indicate that the lunar near-surface rocks at the Apollo 14 site consist of a regolith 8.5 meters thick and characterized by a compressional wave velocity of 104 meters per second. The regolith is underlain by a layer with a compressional wave velocity of 299 meters...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Watkins, Joel S., Kovach, Robert L.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1972
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.175.4027.1244
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.175.4027.1244
Description
Summary:Explosion seismic refraction data indicate that the lunar near-surface rocks at the Apollo 14 site consist of a regolith 8.5 meters thick and characterized by a compressional wave velocity of 104 meters per second. The regolith is underlain by a layer with a compressional wave velocity of 299 meters per second. The thickness of this layer, which we interpret to be the Fra Mauro Formation, is between 16 and 76 meters. The layer immediately beneath this has a velocity greater than 370 meters per second. We found no evidence of permafrost.