Abstract
The thermal history and current state of the lunar interior are investigated using constraints imposed by recent geological and physical data. Theoretical temperature models are computed taking into account different initial conditions, heat sources, differentiation and simulated convection. To account for the early formation of the lunar highlands, the time duration of magmatism and presentday temperatures estimated from lunar electrical conductivity profiles, it is necessary to restrict initial temperatures and abundances of radioactivie elements. Successful models require that the outer half of the Moon initially heated to melting temperatures, probably due to rapid accretion. Differentiation of radioactive heat sources toward the lunar surface occurred during the first 1.6 billion years. Temperatures in the outer 500 km are currently low, while the deep interior (radius less than 700 to 1000 km) is warmer than 1000°C, and is of primordial material. In some models there is a partially melted core. The calculated surface heat flux is between 25 and 30 erg/cm2 s.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, D. L. and Phinney, R. A.: 1967, ‘Early Thermal History of the Terrestrial Planets’, inMantles of the Earth and Terrestrial Planets, (ed. by S. K. Runcorn), Interscience, p. 113.
Baldwin, R. B.: 1971,Phys. Earth Planetary Int. 4, 167.
Cohen, L. H., Ito, K., and Kennedy, G. C.: 1967,Am. J. Sci. 265, 475.
Cremers, C. J.: 1971,AIAA J., in press.
Duke, M. B. and Silver, L. T.: 1967,Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 31, 1637.
Dyal, P. and Parkin, C. W.: 1971,Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, Suppl. 2, 2391.
Fish, R. A., Goles, G. G., and Anders, E.: 1960,Astrophys. J. 132, 243.
Fleischer, R. L., Price, P. B., and Walker, R. M.: 1965,J. Geophys. Res. 70, 2703.
Fricker, P. E., Reynolds, R. T., and Summers, A. L.: 1967,J. Geophys. Res. 72, 49. 26
Goetze, C. and Brace, W. F.: 1971,Tectonophysics, in press.
Hanks, T. C. and Anderson, D. L.: 1969,Phys. Earth Planetary Int. 2, 19.
Hays, J. F.: 1971,Phys. Earth Planetary Int. 5, 77.
Hohenberg, C. M., Munk, M. N., and Reynolds, J. H.: 1967,J. Geophys. Res. 72, 3139.
Horai, K., Simmons, G., Kanamori, H., and Wones, D.: 1970,Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, Suppl. 1, 2243.
Husain, L., Schaeffer, O. A., and Sutter, J. F.: 1972,Science 175, 428.
Kopal, Z.: 1962,Planetary Space Sci. 9, 625.
Lachenbruch, A. H.: 1968,J. Geophys. Res. 73, 6977.
Langseth, M. E., Clark, S. P., Jr., and Wexler, A.: 1971, ‘The Apollo 15 Lunar Heat Flow Measurement’, paper presented at the Lunar Science Institute Conference on Lunar Geophysics, Houston, Texas.
Latham, G., Ewing, M., Dorman, J., Lammlein, D., Press, F., Toksöz, N., Sutton, G., Dunnebier, F., and Nakamura, Y.: 1971,Science 174, 687.
Levin, B. J.: 1962, ‘Thermal History of the Moon’, inThe Moon, (ed. by Z. Kopal and Z. K. Mikhailov), Academic Press, New York, p. 157.
Lowan, A. N.: 1957,The Operator Approach to Problems of Stability and Convergence of Solutions of Difference Equations and the Convergence of Various Iteration Procedures, Scripta Mathematica, Yeshiva University, New York.
LSPET (Lunar Sample Preliminary Examination Team): 1969,Science 165, 1211.
LSPET (Lunar Sample Preliminary Examination Team): 1972,Science 175, 363.
MacDonald, G. J. F.: 1959,J. Geophys. Res. 64, 1967.
MacDonald, G. J. F.: 1963,Rev. Geophys. 1, 587.
Mason, B. and Melson, W. G.: 1970,The Lunar Rocks, Wiley Interscience, New York.
McConnell, R. K., Jr., McClaine, L. A., Lee, D. W., Aronson, J. R., and Allen, R. V.: 1967,Rev. Geophys. 5, 121.
Murase, T. and McBirney, A. R.: 1970,Science 170, 165.
O'Keefe, J. A.: 1970,EOS, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union 51, 633.
Orowan, E.: 1965,Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London, Ser. A, 258, 284.
Papanastassiou, D. A. and Wasserburg, G. J.: 1971,Earth Planetary Sci. Letters 11, 37.
Reynolds, R. T., Fricker, P. E., and Summers, A. L.: 1966,J. Geophys. Res. 71, 573.
Reynolds, R. T., Fricker, P. E., and Summers, A. L.: 1971, ‘Thermal History of the Moon’, to be published.
Ringwood, A. E.: 1970,J. Geophys. Res. 75, 6453.
Ringwood, A. E. and Essene, E.: 1970,Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, Suppl. 1, 769.
Runcorn, S. K.: 1962,Nature 195, 1150.
Schatz, J. F.: 1971, ‘Thermal Conductivity of Earth Materials at High Temperatures’, Ph.D. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.
Sill, W. R.: 1971,J. Geophys. Res. 76, 251.
Singer, S. F.: 1970,EOS, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union 51, 637.
Sonett, C. P., Colburn, D. S., Dyal, P., Parkin, C. W., Smith, B. F., Schubert, G., and Schwartz, K.: 1971,Nature 230, 359.
Sonett, C. P., Colburn, D. S., and Schwartz, K.: 1968,Nature 219, 924.
Ter Haar, G. L.: 1948,Kgl. Danske Videnskip. Selskab., Mat.-Fys. Medd. 25, 3.
Tozer, D. C.: 1970,Phys. Earth Planetary Int. 2, 393.
Tozer, D. C.: 1971, ‘An Interpretation of the Lunar Electrical Conductivity Distribution’, paper presented at the Lunar Science Institute Conference of Lunar Geophysics, Houston, Texas.
Turcotte, D. L. and Oxburgh, E. R.: 1969a,J. Geophys. Res. 74, 1458.
Turcotte, D. L. and Oxburgh, E. R.: 1969b,Nature 223, 250.
Urey, H. C.: 1952,The Planets, Their Origin and Development, Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut.
Urey, H. C.: 1968,Science 162, 1408.
Weertman, J.: 1970,Rev. Geophys. Space Phys. 8, 145.
Wood, J. A.: 1971, ‘Thermal History and Early Magmatism in the Moon’, inThe Geophysical Interpretation of the Moon (ed. by G. Simmons), in press.
Wood, J. A., Dickey, J. S., Jr., Marvin, U. B., and Powell, B. N.: 1970,Science 167, 602.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Presently at the Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle, North Carolina 27709, U.S.A.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Toksőz, M.N., Solomon, S.C., Minear, J.W. et al. Thermal evolution of the moon. The Moon 4, 190–213 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00562926
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00562926