What phenomenon causes the formation of wrinkle ridges on the lunar surface?
Answer
The Moon slowly contracting as its interior cools
Wrinkle ridges are surface manifestations of internal structural adjustments caused by cooling. As the Moon’s interior gradually loses heat, its overall volume decreases slightly, causing the solid outer crust to compress and buckle. These features are technically classified as compressional thrust faults, representing folds and cracks in the surface layer. The persistence of young wrinkle ridges confirms that the internal engine responsible for this slow, persistent squeezing has remained active, at least minimally, throughout the recent geological past, right up to the last billion years.
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