A terrane in geology is a terminology to simply describe a series of related rocks formations or an area having a preponderance of a particular rock or rocks groups, which is separated by faults, and it is a shorthand term for a “tectonostratigraphic terrane.” Since there are lots of similar geology and geochemistry characters in the Earth-Moon system, the conception of terrane can be used to study lunar science, generally called Terrane Tectonics, which means a tectonic unit with distinctive characters and unique geologic history. Thus, the study on the division of lunar terrane tectonics can be contributed to deeply understand the geological evolution of the Moon.
Highland-Mare Dichotomy
Since Galileo first peered at the Moon through his homemade telescope in the early 1600s, lunar scientists have divided the lunar surface into two major terranes on the basis of surface smoothness and albedo, highland and mare (Fig. 1). The highlands which have been heavily cratered is generally...
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Liu, J., Ji, J. (2018). Lunar Terrane Tectonics. In: Cudnik, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Lunar Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05546-6_62-1
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