The strength of the lunar lithosphere

Abstract

A self-gravitating, elastic, spherical thick shell model is used to derive the present state of the lateral variations of density and stress differences within the lunar lithosphere. The model is allowed to deform under the load of an initial surface topography and internal density distribution, such that the resulting deformed body gives rise to the observed surface topography and gravity specified by the spherical harmonics of degree up to 70. Two main models are considered, Model A and Model B, with elastic lithospheres of thickness 300 and 210 km, respectively. Model A displays density perturbations of generally less than ±200 kg/m 3 within the crustal layers, reducing rapidly to less than ±20 kg/m 3 at the base of the lithosphere. The density perturbations in Model B are similar in the crust and marginally higher at the base of the lithosphere. The major stress differences in the mantle are associated with the mascon basins and are found to reach maximums of 8–10 MPa within the lower lithosphere (150–270 km) of Model A and maximums of 12–16 MPa at 150 to 180 km depth for Model B. A moderate correlation exists between the modeled stress distributions and shallow moonquake epicenters. However, the overall results of this study imply that other remnant stresses, due to processes other than density perturbations, exist and play a critical role in the large shallow moonquakes.