Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors.
Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker.
Copernican period
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (October 2013) |
| Copernican | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chronology | ||||||
| ||||||
| Usage information | ||||||
| Celestial body | Earth's Moon | |||||
| Time scale(s) used | Lunar Geologic Timescale | |||||
| Definition | ||||||
| Chronological unit | Period | |||||
The Copernican Period in the lunar geologic timescale runs from approximately 1.1 billion years ago to the present day. The base of the Copernican period is defined by impact craters that possess bright optically immature ray systems. The crater Copernicus is a prominent example of rayed crater, but it does not mark the base of the Copernican period.
Copernican age deposits are mostly represented by crater ejecta, but a small area of mare basalt has covered part of (and is thus younger than) some of the rays of the Copernican crater Lichtenberg, and therefore the basalt is mapped as Copernican age.[1]
- ^ Wilhelms, Don E.; McCauley, John F.; Trask, Newell J. (1987). "The geologic history of the Moon". USGS. Professional paper 1348.
Previous Page Next Page
