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Evaluation of Lunar Seismicity Parameters Based on Analysis of Newly Discovered Shallow Moonquakes in the Apollo Seismic Data

From 1969 to 1977, the first lunar seismic observation was carried out during the Apollo missions, bringing us about 13,000 seismic events and opening the path to studying lunar seismicity and its internal structure. The lunar seismic events are roughly classified into four groups: deep moonquakes, meteoroid impact events, shallow moonquakes, and thermal moonquakes. Among them, shallow moonquakes are the rarest events on the Moon. While thousands of events have been identified for deep moonquakes, meteoroid impacts, and thermal moonquakes, only 28 shallow moonquakes were detected before (e.g., Nakamura et al., 1981). Despite their small population, shallow moonquakes show much larger energy release than any other lunar seismic events (e.g., Goins et al., 1981). Therefore, they are important for understanding the seismicity of the Moon. Recently, Onodera (2023) discovered 46 new shallow moonquakes, allowing us to renew the lunar seismicity parameters (such as the magnitude of completeness, seismicity rate, and b-value).

In the presentation, followed by the characterization of the newly discovered shallow moonquakes, I will show the estimated seismicity parameters for the Apollo 14, 15, and 16 landing sites and discuss the regionality of seismic activity on the Moon.

Session: Planetary Seismology - I

Type: Oral

Room: Kahtnu 1

Date: 5/1/2024

Presentation Time: 04:45 PM (local time)

Presenting Author: Keisuke Onodera

Student Presenter: No

Additional Authors