posted on Feb, 7 2003 @ 08:28 PM
I dont know anything about a bisecting fault on the moon, and kind of doubt that any fault would completely bisect, or nearly bisect an orbital body.
Although it wouldnt fly in half, it would make the body structurally unstable.
We do know that the moon is seismically active, although at a much lower level than seen on the Earth.
I kind of find it hard to believe that any kind of fault would exist to any great depth on the moon, although due to its lower gravity, I suppose
faults could penetrate deeper than they do here on earth. Here, faults rarely penetrate more than a couple of kilometers below the surface, if that.
Even the great Rift Valley in Africa only penetrates about 2-3 kilometers at its deepest point. The reason for this is that as depth increases, so
does pressure and heat, to the point that rocks loose any rigidity and essentially becomes a homogenious plastic mass, void of any kind of organized
structure. *Note, we have recently found evidence of some kind of organized structures between 400 and 600 km deep, which totally blows all our
structural models.*
Before someone brings it up, yes, deep sea trenches are deeper than the depths I am quoting. However, these exist in subduction zones, where one plate
rides over another, and pushes it down into the mantel.
Where all this is leading to back to the moon is that even with its low gravity, I believe the inner regions of the moon to be plastic enough to
prevent deep penetration/wide lateral extent of a single fault.
Hope that helps somewhat!