The massive canyons were carved onto the moon's surface in the blink of an eye.

The Grand Canyon in Arizona took millions of years to form, while two canyons of similar size were carved onto the surface of the moon in just 10 minutes.

Two large canyons in the Schrödinger Basin on the moon.

The difference in duration is due to the two large canyons on the moon being formed when an asteroid or comet crashed into its surface, according to a report published in the journal Nature Communications .

"The violent impact triggered a series of smaller-scale events, allowing for the formation of those canyons within 10 minutes," NPR quoted author David Kring of the USRA Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas.

Two large canyons, named Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck, are located on the far side of the moon in the Schrödinger Basin and are therefore invisible from Earth. Each canyon is 265.5 km long and more than 2.4 km deep. The Schrödinger Basin itself is the result of a collision approximately 3.8 billion years ago.

"These are unusual canyons, but they are hidden and somewhat mysterious because they are located on the far side of the moon, in the Antarctic region," expert Kring said.

Asteroid discovered that could collide with Earth in 2032.

To better understand the story behind the Schrödinger Basin and its two accompanying canyons, expert Kring teamed up with PhD student Danielle Kallenborn and Professor Gareth Collins of Imperial College London (UK).

Together, they used imagery from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to map the basin, canyons, and rock fragments that fell back to the surface after the catastrophic impact.

When an asteroid or comet crashes into the moon, its speed reaches 61,155 km/h and it can penetrate to a depth of up to 24 km. During this process, debris is lifted into the air and a massive rain of rocks falls. The two canyons are formed from this event.

The energy required to carve two canyons onto the moon's surface is 1,200 to 2,200 times greater than the Panama Canal Expansion Explosion, or more than 700 times greater than the combined destructive power of all nuclear tests conducted by the US, the Soviet Union, and China, and 130 times greater than the energy that could be released from all nuclear arsenals worldwide if detonated simultaneously.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cac-hem-nui-lon-duoc-khac-len-mat-trang-trong-chop-mat-185250205142623779.htm