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New research has found that two massive canyons on the Moon – Schrödinger Valley and Planck Valley – were formed by rapid flows of rocky debris that moved at speeds of nearly a kilometer per second, carving the lunar surface in a matter of minutes.
Schrödinger's Wall, which is 270 km long and 2,7 km deep, and Planck's Wall, which is 280 km long and 3,5 km deep, are comparable in scale to the Grand Canyon in the United States. However, as scientists note,
These canyons are located near the 3,81 billion-year-old Schrödinger impact basin, but the mechanism of their formation has remained a mystery.
According to a new study published in Nature Communications., the canyons were formed by the impact of a powerful asteroid or comet, which caused the ejection of a huge mass of rocky debris. The researchers estimated that the energy of this process exceeded the combined power of all nuclear tests of the United States, the USSR and China by 700 times, and its level was 130 times higher than the current global stockpile of nuclear weapons. Using data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, they created detailed maps of the lunar surface and simulated the direction and speed of debris flows.
The results showed that the rock flows moved at speeds of 0,95 to 1,28 km/s, carving out canyons in just a few minutes. The average size of the ejecta fragments for Vallis Planck was less than 2 km in diameter, while the debris that created Vallis Schrödinger may have been 2,3 to 5,2 km in diameter. Analysis of the distribution of the ejecta materials suggests that the Schrödinger impact basin was formed by a shallow impact directed from the Moon's south pole.
These findings have important implications for future NASA Artemis missions that are planned to explore the south polar region of the Moon. As the study authors note, “the edge of the Schrödinger Basin is within 300 km of the south pole and within 125 km of the Artemis Exploration Area, which is the first destination for Artemis astronauts.” The asymmetric distribution of emissions suggests that potential landing sites contain less material from Schrödinger Crater, which would facilitate the collection of samples of the primary crust and material from the South Pole–Aitken Basin, one of the oldest and deepest craters on the Moon.
