The Volcanoes of Taurus-Littrow — Explosive Volcanism on the Moon

Abstract

The well-known early selenologist G.K. Gilbert strongly proposed in his 1892 landmark paper “The Moon’s Face,” that impact processes were the primary source of lunar craters. Using the 67-centimeter telescope at the Naval Observatory in Washington D.C. for 18 days, he had gathered evidence for the most visible craters’ origins, including the widespread “rays” of ejecta that can be seen today with even a good backyard telescope. He also gathered evidence to contrast the lunar craters with large volcanic craters on Earth. (Ironically, Gilbert also concluded that Meteor Crater, now a popular tourist locale in Arizona, was formed by a volcanic eruption rather than impact.) Many decades later, on the other side of the debate, California geologist Jack Green promoted the idea that most of the large lunar craters were volcanic and similar to large volcanic collapse craters (calderas) on Earth.