Nectarian

Nectarian
Nectarian
3920 – 3850 Ma PreN I N E C
Chronology
−4500 — – −4000 — – −3500 — – −3000 — – −2500 — – −2000 — – −1500 — – −1000 — – −500 — – 0 —	Pre-Nectarian Nectarian Imbrian Eratosthenian Copernican Late Early
	Periods on the Lunar Geologic Timescale. Axis scale: Millions of years ago.;
Usage information
Celestial body	Earth's Moon
Time scale(s) used	Lunar geologic timescale
Definition
Chronological unit	Period

The Nectarian Period of the lunar geologic timescale was from 3.920 billion years ago to 3.850 billion years ago. It is the period during which the Nectaris Basin and other major basins were formed by large impact events. 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, which initiated the Imbrian Period.^[1] Magnetic anomalies found in some Nectarian Period basins suggest that the Moon possessed a core dynamo magnetic field at that time.^[2]

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Colors =

 id:prenectarian   value:rgb(0.823,0.302,0.380)
 id:nectarian value:rgb(0.898,0.329,0.071)
 id:imbrian   value:rgb(0,0.481,0.811)
 id:earlyimbrian      value:rgb(0,0.404,0.741) 
 id:lateimbrian    value:rgb(0,0.557,0.882) 
 id:eratosthenian   value:rgb(0.238,0.839,0.728) 
 id:copernican     value:rgb(0.5,0.5,0.5)

Period = from:-4533 till:0 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:500 start:-4500 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:100 start:-4500

PlotData=

 align:center textcolor:black fontsize:8 mark:(line,black) width:25 shift:(0,-5)

 bar:Period

 from: -1100   till:    0   text:Copernican  color:copernican   
 from:-3200   till: -1100   text:Eratosthenian  color:eratosthenian   
 from:-3850   till: -3200  text:Imbrian      color:imbrian  
 from: -3920  till: -3850  text:N shift:(2,-5)       color:nectarian
 from: start  till: -3920  text:Pre-Nectarian       color:prenectarian

 bar:Epoch

 from: -3200  till: 0       color:white
 from:  -3800 till: -3200   text:Late  color:lateimbrian
 from: -3850  till: -3800   text:Early shift:(-20,-5)  color:earlyimbrian             
 from: start  till: -3850   color:white

</timeline>

Millions of years before present

Relationship to Earth's geologic time scale

Since little or no geological evidence on Earth exists from the time spanned by the Nectarian Period of the Moon, the Nectarian has been used by at least one notable scientific work^[3] as an unofficial subdivision of the terrestrial Hadean eon.

References

^ Liu, J.; Guo, D. (2018). "Lunar geological timescale" (PDF). Encyclopedia of lunar science. pp. 1–3. Retrieved 2024-09-01.
^ Hood, Lon L. (February 2011). "Central magnetic anomalies of Nectarian-aged lunar impact basins: Probable evidence for an early core dynamo". Icarus. 211 (2): 1109–1128. Bibcode:2011Icar..211.1109H. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2010.08.012.
^ W. Harland; R. Armstrong; A. Cox; L. Craig; A. Smith; D. Smith (1990). A Geologic time scale 1989. Cambridge University Press.

[Liu_Guo_2018-1] Liu, J.; Guo, D. (2018). "Lunar geological timescale" (PDF). Encyclopedia of lunar science. pp. 1–3. Retrieved 2024-09-01.

[Hood_2011-2] Hood, Lon L. (February 2011). "Central magnetic anomalies of Nectarian-aged lunar impact basins: Probable evidence for an early core dynamo". Icarus. 211 (2): 1109–1128. Bibcode:2011Icar..211.1109H. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2010.08.012.

[3] W. Harland; R. Armstrong; A. Cox; L. Craig; A. Smith; D. Smith (1990). A Geologic time scale 1989. Cambridge University Press.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Hadean Eon
Cryptic Basin Groups Nectarian Lower Imbrian
The Hadean does not have any subdivisions recognized by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. These subdivisions represent one proposal that is loosely based on the lunar geologic timescale.

Relationship to Earth's geologic time scale

See also

References