Daftar Isi
Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
The Moon is shrinking and triggering latest tectonic activity, including moonquakes that could impact its surface environment.
This discovery comes from a study published in The Planetary Science Journal on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. Researchers from the National Air and Space Museum team created the first global map of small ridges in the lunar maria as evidence of active tectonic processes. Understanding these processes is crucial as humanity plans a return to the Moon.
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According to Science Daily, this marks the first time scientists have demonstrated that these ridges are relatively young and widespread across the lunar maria, the expansive, dark, and smooth basaltic plains on the Moon’s surface.
By studying how these small mare ridges (SMRs) form, the team also identified new sources of moonquakes that could potentially affect future lunar landing site locations.
Moonquakes vs. Earthquakes
Both Earth and the Moon experience tectonic forces, but they behave incredibly differently. Earth’s crust is broken into plates that collide, separate, and grind against each other.
These movements form mountains, carve out deep ocean trenches, and trigger volcanic activity around the Pacific Ring of Fire.
The Moon does not have plate tectonics. Instead, stress accumulates within its single crust and continually builds. This stress results in distinctive surface features.
A well-known example is lobate scarps, ridges formed when the crust is compressed and one section is thrust up and over another along a fault.
These are common in the lunar highlands and have formed within the last billion years, roughly the last 20 percent of the Moon’s history.
A Shrinking Moon
In 2010, Tom Watters, a senior scientist emeritus at the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, found evidence suggesting the Moon is gradually shrinking. As its interior cools, the Moon’s surface wrinkles, creating compressive forces that form the lobate scarps in the highlands.
However, lobate scarps alone cannot explain all of the Moon’s relatively new shrinkage features. Another class of surface forms, small mare ridges (SMRs), has also been identified.
Small mare ridges (SMRs) form from the same compressive forces that create lobate scarps. The difference lies in location: lobate scarps appear in the highlands, while SMRs are found only in the lunar maria.
Researchers set out to systematically map these ridges across the lunar maria and study their role in recent tectonic activity.
“Since the Apollo era, we’ve known about the prevalence of lobate scarps across the lunar highlands, but this is the first time scientists have documented the widespread prevalence of similar features across the lunar maria,” said Cole Nypaver, a postdoctoral research geologist at the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies and the study’s lead author.
“This research helps us gain a complete global perspective on recent lunar tectonism, which will lead to a better understanding of its interior, thermal history, and seismic activity, as well as potential future moonquakes,” he added.
The team compiled the first comprehensive catalog of SMRs. In the process, they identified 1,114 previously unidentified SMR segments on the near side of the Moon’s maria, bringing the total number of known SMRs on the Moon to 2,634.
Their analysis shows that the average age of SMRs is approximately 124 million years. This is nearly the same as the average age of lobate scarps (105 million years), as determined by previous research conducted by Watters and colleagues. This similar age suggests that, like lobate scarps, SMRs are among the youngest geological features on the Moon.
The study also indicates that SMRs formed along the same types of faults as lobate scarps. In some areas, highlands scarps transition into SMRs within the maria, reinforcing the idea that both structures have a common origin.
Combined with existing data on lobate scarps, this new SMR catalog provides a much clearer picture of the Moon’s recent contraction and tectonic evolution.
“Our discovery of young, small ridges in the maria, and the identification of their cause, complements a global view of a dynamic, shrinking Moon,” said Watters.
Implications for Future Lunar Missions
Previous research by Watters linked the tectonic forces that form lobate scarps to recorded moonquakes. Because SMRs form through the same type of faulting, moonquakes may occur wherever these ridges are present across the lunar maria.
Expanding the map of potential moonquake sources provides scientists with new opportunities to study the Moon’s interior and tectonic behavior. However, it also highlights the seismic risks that future astronauts may face when exploring or living on the lunar surface.
“We are in a very exciting time for lunar science and exploration,” said Nypaver.
“Upcoming lunar exploration programs, such as Artemis, will provide a wealth of new information about our Moon. A better understanding of lunar tectonics and seismic activity will directly support the safety and scientific success of these and future missions,” he concluded.
(wpj/dmi)
