Mantle convection

Abstract

Although the Moon is much smaller than the Earth, dynamic processes took place in its interior and helped shape its surface. It is suggested that compositionally driven convection was dominant in the early evolution after the solidification of the lunar magma ocean -- often also termed as mantle overturn – and that thermally driven convection was mainly active after this overturn phase. Details of these processes are however controversially discussed, but during the last years, improvements in the numerical models and new rheological experiments have led to a better understanding and changed the view about the interior dynamics of the Moon. In this chapter we will discuss various scenarios that have been suggested in the literature, point out their problems and introduce the most likely scenario.