What primary force is attributed to causing deep moonquakes originating below 70 kilometers on the Moon?
Answer
Tidal forces caused by Earth’s gravity flexing the Moon’s interior.
Deep moonquakes are categorized as those tremors that originate at depths greater than approximately 70 kilometers beneath the lunar surface. Unlike shallow moonquakes, these events are not generally indicative of ongoing cooling and contraction near the surface. Instead, they are understood to be a persistent background phenomenon directly linked to the gravitational interaction between the Earth and the Moon. Specifically, the gravitational pull exerted by Earth causes flexing and tidal stresses within the Moon’s interior as it progresses along its orbit, generating these deep, lower-energy seismic events.
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