Definition
Highlands are an ancient geological unit on the moon, distributed largely on the boundaries of the maria. The elevation of lunar highlands is 2–3 km higher than maria, and the areas tend to be larger than maria. Because highlands are mainly composed of light-color anorthosite, they have a high solar reflectivity. On the part of the moon, we see with the naked eye that the highlands are the shiny white features.
Characteristics of Lunar Highland
The average thickness of the lunar highland region crust is about 60 km. Its average alumina content is up to 25% compared to a maximum of 6% for the whole moon. The alumina in the crust of the highland accounts for 40% of that in the entire moon. The uranium, thorium, and potassium in the lunar surface are twice as high as in the lunar interior. Europium in the highland crust is extremely abundant, but in the formation of mare basalt is extremely scarce. The contents of FeO and TiO2 in the highlands are low.
The lunar highlands are...
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Zhou, C. (2023). Lunar Landscape, Highlands. In: Cudnik, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Lunar Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14541-9_45
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