Relationship To Earth's Geological Time Scale
The divisions of the lunar geological time scale are based on the recognition of a few convenient geomorphological markers. While these divisions are extremely useful for ordering geological events in a relative manner, it is important to realize that the boundaries do not imply any fundamental change of geological processes. Furthermore, as the oldest geological periods of the Moon are based exclusively on the times of individual impact events (in particular, Nectaris, Imbrium, and Orientale), these punctual events will most likely not correspond to any specific geological event on the other terrestrial planets, such as Mercury, Venus, Earth, or Mars.
Nevertheless, at least one notable scientific work has advocated using the lunar geological time scale to subdivide the Hadean eon of Earth's geological timescale (the Hadean eon is not officially recognized). In particular, it is sometimes found that the Hadean is subdivided into the Cryptic, Basin Groups 1-9, Nectarian, and Early Imbrian. This notation is not entirely consistent with the above lunar geological time scale in that the Cryptic and Basin Groups 1-9 (both of which are only informal terms that are not used in geological maps) comprise the Pre-Nectarian period.
Read more about this topic: Lunar Geologic Timescale
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