Chinese researchers identify new landslides on moon

BEIJING -- Chinese researchers have identified new landslides on the Moon that have formed since 2009, according to a recent research article published in the journal National Science Review.

The primary trigger of such landslides was seismic activity originating within the moon, or "endogenic moonquakes," rather than asteroid impacts, according to the article.

The researchers from Sun Yat-sen University in South China's Guangdong province analyzed multi-temporal images of the moon's most unstable terrains. The study revealed that these new landslides are shallow and small, with each displacing less than 100,000 cubic meters of material.

Most of these landslides measure less than one kilometer in length and 100 meters in width.

After investigating the geological conditions of the new landslides, the researchers identified a large number of newly formed impact craters, with the largest diameter exceeding 70 meters. Yet fewer than 30 percent of the new landslides appeared to have been triggered by these impacts.

Most new landslides were likely induced by "endogenic moonquakes," and they display distinct spatial clustering in the east of Imbrium basin, implying heterogeneous distributions of seismic zones in the lunar interior, according to the research article.

Previously, active seismic zones deep within the moon had remained largely undetectable. This study shows that the spatial pattern of lunar landslides can be used to identify the active seismic zones.

It provides a clear strategy for targeting future seismometer deployments and probing the moon's internal structure.