Open AccessConvection in the Moon: A Boundary Condition
Author(s) -
Fielder G.
Publication year - 1966
Publication title -
geophysical journal of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.302
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1365-246X
pISSN - 0016-8009
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1966.tb03070.x
Subject(s) - geology , convection , lineament , geophysics , equator , geometry , symmetry (geometry) , meridian (astronomy) , geodesy , physics , latitude , meteorology , mathematics , seismology , tectonics , astronomy
Summary Recent British and United States maps of a system of structural lineaments on the Moon have been compared. The two principal families of lineaments trend SW‐NE and SE‐NW in the centre of the Moon's disk, but the surface grid so formed loses its orthogonal character as the limb is approached along the prime meridian or equator. These two great circles are found to be lines of symmetry of the grid system in the orthographic plane. The symmetry defines an extraordinary boundary condition for any theory of convection within the Moon; yet the condition appears to be fulfilled by the theory of second‐order convection cells proposed for another reason by S. K. Runcorn.