Impact gardening is the process by whichimpact events stir the outermostcrusts of moons and other celestial objects with noatmospheres. In the particular case of theMoon, this is more often known aslunar gardening. Planetary bodies lacking an atmosphere will generally also lack anyerosional processes, with the possible exception ofvolcanism, and as a result impact debris accumulates at the object's surface as a rough "soil," commonly referred to asregolith. Subsequent impacts, especially bymicrometeorites, stir and mix this soil. It had long been estimated that the top centimeter of the lunar surface is overturned every 10 million years.[1] However, a 2016 analysis by theLRO satellite of impact ejecta coverage puts the figure closer to 80,000 years.[2]
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