English 
Spanish 
4 min read
0 comments
The Moon hides a Grand Canyon formed in just 10 minutes, the result of a colossal impact that marked its landscape and intrigued astronomers
A canyon, in its terrestrial definition, is a deep, narrow valley with steep walls, often carved over eons by the erosive force of rivers or the slow movement of tectonic plates.
But on the Moon, our natural satellite devoid of atmosphere and rivers, canyon formation follows a dramatically different path — a path forged in minutes by the violence of cosmic impacts.
Two of these giant lunar canyons, Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck, rival Arizona's famous Grand Canyon in scale.
- Plastic waste becomes clean energy — British technology promises 35 tons of hydrogen per day
- China creates metal sheets 100.000x thinner than a strand of hair that could redefine electronics technology
- 4.000-year-old tablet reveals secrets of history's first empire
- Mystery solved: scientists discover what's inside the Moon, secret is shocking
Schrödinger Valley stretches over 270 kilometers and reaches a depth of up to 2,7 kilometers. The even more impressive Planck Valley reaches similar lengths but plunges 3,5 kilometers below the lunar surface.
Now, a team of researchers has unraveled the cataclysmic events that gave rise to these impressive formations.
The Impact that Created Schrödinger
The story begins with Schrödinger crater, a vast impact scar located near the lunar south pole. At about 312 kilometers in diameter and 4,5 kilometers deep, Schrödinger is one of the largest and best-preserved peak-ring basins in the solar system.
Approximately four billion years ago, a sizable object – the exact dimensions of which are still debated – violently collided with the Moon.
The energy released by this impact was unimaginable. The shock instantly vaporized the impactor and a large portion of the lunar crust. Molten and fragmented rock was thrown in all directions, creating a shock wave of ejecta.
In the center of the crater, the rock, under immense pressure, retreated and rose, forming a central peak that later collapsed, creating the characteristic inner ring of mountains.
Blink and a crater is formed”
However, the formation of the peak ring was not the only result of this colossal impact. The immense energy of the collision threw gigantic flows of rock and debris at dizzying speeds.
These projectiles, following ballistic trajectories, like gigantic cannon shots, returned to collide with the lunar surface, but not randomly.
David Kring of the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Danielle Kallenborn, formerly of the same institute and now at the University of St Andrews, and Gareth Collins of Imperial College London combined their expertise to unravel the mystery of how the canyons formed. The key lay in the meticulous analysis of these ejecta flows.
Using a combination of high-resolution images and elevation data obtained by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), the team painstakingly mapped the canyons.
Instruments such as the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) have provided precise measurements of the depth, width and extent of these features.
Secondary craters
The researchers identified 15 notable secondary craters throughout the Schrödinger Vallis, each with diameters between 10 and 16 kilometers.
The presence of these secondary craters, aligned with the paths of the canyons, provided the crucial evidence: Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck were not formed by slow, gradual processes, but rather by chains of nearly simultaneous, high-energy impacts.
By analyzing the distribution and size of these secondary craters, the team was able to apply ballistic trajectory equations and crater scaling laws.
These calculations revealed that the debris flows hit the lunar surface at impressive speeds, ranging from 0,95 to 1,28 kilometers per second. At this speed, a projectile could cross Brazil, from north to south, in less than an hour.
Most surprising, however, was the time scale. The team estimated that the excavation of the deep trenches that form Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck occurred in less than ten minutes. In the geological blink of an eye, these lunar canyons were carved, a stunning demonstration of the brute force of cosmic impacts.
An angular impact
The study also revealed that the impactor that created Schrodinger hit the Moon at a shallow angle. This discovery has important implications for the Earth's Artemis program. NASA, which plans to send astronauts back to the Moon, specifically to the lunar south pole.
If the Schrödinger impact had ejected debris evenly in all directions, large areas of the south pole – including the Artemis exploration zone – would be covered in thick layers of ejecta.
This would make it difficult to access the oldest lunar crust and deposits of rock molten by the impact, materials of great scientific interest.
Fortunately, the oblique angle of the impact directed most of the debris away from the south pole. This means that Artemis astronauts will have easier access to these geologically valuable materials, allowing them to collect samples that could reveal crucial information about the history of the Moon and the early solar system.
The study was published in Nature Communications.: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55675-z. With information from ZM.
