Abstract. This article describes the application of the concepts and laws of physics to the study of the formation, structure and properties of the surface layers of the moon. Both impact and internal mechanisms for the origin of the lunar surface features are considered. The effect of solar electromagnetic radiation on the Moon's surface is described, from which information about the chemical composition, microstructure and thermal properties of the surface may be deduced. The interaction of the moon with the electromagnetic field of the solar wind is discussed. Bombardment of the lunar surface by the solar wind and by cosmic ray particles is also considered, both as a means of determining the individual histories of lunar rock samples and of investigating possible variations in the flux of such particles over cosmological time scales. Seismic measurements made on the lunar surface are described.

Print publication: Issue 3 (March 1973)