Lunar Surface Processes

Abstract

The modern surface of the Moon is primarily influenced by impact processes. While volcanism was active until perhaps 3.0 Ga and tectonic activity may still persist, it is the integrated effects of impacts that have produced the primary topography and controlled the physical properties of the surface materials (the regolith). Impact processes per se are discussed elsewhere (Osinski et al. 2023, this volume); here we focus on the regolith that has been produced by those impacts, its physical properties and its evolution.Regolith (Fig. 1) is the fragmental layer of debris that covers the lunar surface...