Mohorovicic
Contents
Mohorovicic
| Lat: 19.0°S, Long: 165.0°W, Diam: 51 km, Depth: km, Rükl: (farside) |
left:Clementine
right: LRO-WAC, Mohorovicic (center) is located just between SPA Basin rim (top) and inner ring (bottom)
Images
LPOD Photo Gallery Lunar Orbiter Images Apollo Images
Frame 45, made by Zond 8, shows Mohorovicic slightly below the frame's central cross.
Research: Danny Caes
Maps
(LAC zone 105A1) USGS Digital Atlas PDF
Description
Description: Wikipedia
Additional Information
Nomenclature
- Named for Andrija Mohorovicic (January 23, 1857 - December 18, 1936), a notable Croatian meteorologist and seismologist. He is best known as the eponym for the Mohorovičić discontinuity. In 1892, he became the head of the Meteorological Observatory in Grič, established a service for all of Croatia, while simultaneously teaching geophysics and astronomy at the university. On October 8, 1909, an earthquake struck, with an epicentre 39 km southeast of Zagreb. A number of existing seismographs were installed before and provided invaluable data upon which he made new discoveries. By analyzing data received from more observation posts, Mohorovičić concluded that the Earth consists of surface layers above an internal core. He was first in the world to establish, (based seismic waves), surface and velocity discontinuity that separates the crust of the planet Earth from the mantle. From the data collected he estimated the thickness of the upper layer (crust) to be 54 km. We know today that the crust is 5-9 km deep beneath the ocean floor and 25-60 km beneath the continents carried on tectonic plates. This layer is called the Mohorovičić Discontinuity or, because of the complexity of his name to non-Croatian speakers, Moho.
- Mohorovicic was in the long list of farside features approved by the IAU in 1970 and published in Menzel, 1971.
- The IAU-approved spelling of this name contains accented characters that cannot be reliably represented in Wiki text. The original IAU spelling, Mohoróvicic, was changed to Mohorovičić in IAU Transactions XXIVB (2000). The accents over the c's may not be visible here. Visit the IAU Gazetteer page for the proper representation of this name.
- Mohorovicic is absent in the first edition of the book Who's Who on the Moon; a Biographical Dictionary of Lunar Nomenclature by Elijah E. Cocks and Josiah C. Cocks (Tudor Publishers, 1995). This error was detected by Danny Caes.
LPOD Articles
Bibliography
