The Nectarian Period of the
lunar geologic timescale
The lunar geological timescale (or selenological timescale) divides the history of Earth's Moon into five generally recognized periods: the Copernican, Eratosthenian, Imbrian ( Late and Early epochs), Nectarian, and Pre-Nectarian. The boundar ...
was from 3.920 billion years ago to 3.850 billion years ago. It is the period during which the
Nectaris Basin
Mare Nectaris (Latin ''nectaris'', the "Sea of Nectar") is a small lunar mare or sea (a volcanic lava plain noticeably darker than the rest of the Moon's surface) located south of Mare Tranquillitatis southwest of Mare Fecunditatis, on the near ...
and other major basins were formed by large
impact event
An impact event is a collision between astronomical objects causing measurable effects. Impact events have been found to regularly occur in planetary systems, though the most frequent involve asteroids, comets or meteoroids and have minimal effe ...
s. Ejecta from Nectaris form the upper part of the densely cratered terrain found in lunar highlands. The period ended with the formation of the
Imbrium basin
Mare Imbrium (Latin ''imbrium'', the "Sea of Showers" or "Sea of Rains") is a vast lava plain within the Imbrium Basin on the Moon and is one of the larger craters in the Solar System. The Imbrium Basin formed from the collision of a pro ...
, which initiated the
Imbrian
The Imbrian is a lunar geologic period divided into two epochs, the Early and Late.
Early Imbrian
In the lunar geologic timescale, the Early Imbrian epoch occurred from 3,850 million years ago to about 3,800 million years ago. It overlaps the en ...
Period.
[ Magnetic anomalies found in some Nectarian Period basins suggest that the Moon possessed a core ]dynamo
"Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, )
A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator. Dynamos employed electromagnets for self-starting by using residual magnetic field left in the iron cores ...
magnetic field
A magnetic field (sometimes called B-field) is a physical field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular ...
at that time.[
]
Relationship to Earth's geologic time scale
Since little or no geological
Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth s ...
evidence on Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
exists from the time spanned by the Nectarian Period of the Moon, the Nectarian has been used by at least one notable scientific work as an unofficial subdivision of the terrestrial Hadean
The Hadean ( ) is the first and oldest of the four geologic eons of Earth's history, starting with the planet's formation about 4.6 billion years ago (estimated 4567.30 ± 0.16 million years ago set by the age of the oldest solid material ...
eon
Eon, EON or Eons may refer to: Time
* Aeon, an indefinite long period of time
* Eon (geology), a division of the geologic time scale
Arts and entertainment
Fictional characters
* Eon, in the 2007 film '' Ben 10: Race Against Time''
* Eon, i ...
.
See also
*
References
{{Geological history, c
*03
Lunar geologic periods