A Geologic Characterization of Hadley
Rille and the Appennine Mountains
Jonas Eschenfelder, Alysa Fintel, Mikala Garnier
Kickapoo High School, Springfield, Missouri
October 15th, 2015
“We choose to go to the ‘Poo not because it is easy…. but because it is hard”
Objective
To provide a geologic interpretation of the
Hadley Rille region offering insight into the
processes that have shaped this area and
landforms that comprise the terrain.
Significance of Study
To provide a better understanding of the geologic
landforms, processes, and relative age of Hadley
Rille and surrounding region.
Region of Study
Hadley Rille
Mare Imbrium
Mare Sarenitatis
Hadley
Crater
Copernicus
Crater
Appennine
Mountains
Methodology
• Analyzed three images provided by the Lunar and Planetary
Institute at
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/exploration/education/hsResearch/moon_101/
• Identified featured landmarks by using comparative analysis of
the given images to the LROC REACT Quickmap to locate the
region of study.
• Identified all geologic landforms and processes present in the
provided images.
• Using the principles of relative dating we determined the order
of occurrence of each event and process.
Analysis of Apollo 15 Landing Site
Apollo 15
Landing Site
Rover Tracks
November
Last
Relative Dating of Apollo 15
Landing Site
Apollo 15
Landing Site
4
Rover Tracks
3
1
2
November
5
Last
Relative age 1 being youngest and 5 being oldest
Analysis of Elbow Crater
Dune
Crater
Hadley Rille
Bridge Crater
Elbow
Crater
Relative Dating of Elbow Crater
Hadley Rille
1. Bridge Crater
Dune Crater
2. Ejecta Material from St. George
3. Dune Crater
4. Elbow Crater
5. Hadley Rille
Relative age 1 being youngest and 5 being oldest
Evidence of Faulting
Graben system
Fault-block mountains that formed at the
same time as Appennine, but has lower
elevation.
Hadley Rille
10 km
Fault system Bela and Taizo
formed after the collapse of the
rille.
10 km
The shadow size shows the
Appennine has a larger
elevation than the faultblock mountains to the left.
Analysis of Hadley Rille
Apollo 15 landing site
Dune Crater
Bridge Crater
St. George Crater
Appennine Front
Hadley Crater
Hadley Rille
Appennine Mountain Range
Taizo
Bela
Relative Dating of Hadley Rille
and Appennine Mountains
7
3
4
5
1
6
8
2
With 1 being the youngest and 8 being
the oldest
Order of Major Geologic Events
• Large impact event formed
the Appennine Mountains.
Palus Putredinis
• That impact formed a half
graben and fault-block
mountain system.
• Hadley Rille collapsed
from the evident faulting
in the area.
• Bela and Taizo are normal
faults formed from more
recent geologic activity.
Appenine Bench
20 km
Many faults and impact modification
in the area caused the collapse of
Hadley Rille.
Conclusions
• We analyzed three imaged that were given to us and
concluded that the Hadley Rille and Appennine
Mountain region were formed by Impacts and faulting.
• The Appennine Mountain range formed from the
Imbrium impact and also formed half-graben systems
and fault-block mountains to the North of the rille.
• Impacts are the predominant process on the moon,
especially in the images we analyzed.
• There are multiple evident faults in the areas
surrounding Hadley Rille.
• Faulting caused the collapse of Hadley Rille.