A large spectral survey of small lunar craters: Implications for the composition of the lunar mantle

Lucey, P. G.; Norman, Jessica; Crites, S. T.; Taylor, G. J.; Hawke, B. R.; Lemelin, M.; Melosh, H. J.

doi:10.2138/am-2014-4854

Cited by 43 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…In our study we use Hapke's radiative transfer equations [e.g., Hapke , , , ] and the approach described in Lucey et al . []. To derive compositions from peak locations, we compute a spectrum library of mineral mixtures of plagioclase, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, and olivine, then compare the central peak spectra with the library to arrive at an estimated composition.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lunar central peak mineralogy and iron content using the Kaguya Multiband Imager: Reassessment of the compositional structure of the lunar crust

Lemelin

Lucey

Song

et al. 2015

J. Geophys. Res. Planets

118

137

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Ryder and Wood (1977) suggested that the lunar crust becomes more mafic with depth because the impact melts associated with the large Imbrium and Serenitatis basins are more mafic than the surface composition of the Moon. In this study, we reexamine the hypothesis that the crust becomes more mafic with depth; we analyze the composition of crater central peaks by using recent remote sensing data and combining the best practices of previous studies. We compute the mineralogy for 34 central peaks using (1) nine-band visible and near-infrared data from the Kaguya Multiband Imager, (2) an improved version of Hapke's radiative transfer model validated with spectra of lunar soils with well-known modal mineralogy, and (3) new crustal thickness models from the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory data to examine the variation in composition with depth. We find that there is no increase in mafic mineral abundances with proximity to the crust/mantle boundary or with depth from the current lunar surface and, therefore, that the crust does not become more mafic with depth. We find that anorthosite with very low mafic abundance ("purest anorthosite" or PAN) is a minority constituent in these peaks, and there is no clear evidence of a distinct PAN-rich layer in the middle crust as previously proposed. The composition of most of the central peaks we analyze is more mafic than classically defined anorthosites with an average noritic anorthosite composition similar to that of the lunar surface.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lunar central peak mineralogy and iron content using the Kaguya Multiband Imager: Reassessment of the compositional structure of the lunar crust

Lemelin

Lucey

Song

et al. 2015

J. Geophys. Res. Planets

118

137

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“…Whitten and Head (2015a) suggested one of the thickest cryptomare deposits across the Moon occurs in the Balmer region with the thickness 3.0 km. Lucey et al (2014) investigated the small (with diameter < 1 km) immature craters in the B-K region and indicated the deposits in these craters may not be mare basalts but mafic melt materials composed of norites. P. E. Clark and Hawke (1987) proposed the buried basalt deposits in the Balmer region may be KREEP-enriched basalts of a volcanic origin with compositions quite different from the typical mare basalts.…”

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confidence: 99%

Lunar Cryptomare: New Insights Into the Balmer‐Kapteyn Region

Wang

Qiu

2018

JGR Planets

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Cryptomaria record the early mare volcanisms and put important constraints on the lunar thermal and volcanic history and on the early partial melting of the mantle. This work focuses on the representative cryptomare region of Balmer‐Kapteyn and employs multisource exploration data including Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera Wide Angle Camera, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera Narrow Angle Camera, Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter Digital Elevation Model (DEM), GLD 100, Chang'E‐1 Interference Imaging Spectrometer, Moon Mineralogy Mapper, Clementine, and Lunar Prospector Gamma‐Ray and Neutron Spectrometers data to provide new insights into the distribution, geometry, buried depth, space weathering, chemical compositions, lithology, and mineralogy of the cryptomare in the Balmer‐Kapteyn region. Some viewpoints are primarily as follows. (1) Cryptomare may widely occur in the Balmer‐Kapteyn region with various small and separate exposure areas. The lithology in this region has an obvious north‐south dichotomy. Alkali suite may dominate the northern region, responsible for the local Th enhancement, whereas ferroan anorthosite suite and magnesian suite may spread over the southern part. Cryptomare may occur in both the north and the south, with most exposures within the craters dominated by alkali suite or ferroan anorthosite suite. (2) The buried depths of the cryptomare may fall into the range from at least ~33 m to at least ~1,849 m. Thus, the buried thickness may be more than ~1.8 km. (3) The buried mare basalts in this region are member of the high‐alumina type and a previously unsampled new type of high‐alumina mare basalts may be revealed. (4) At least two periods of mare volcanisms or at least an intrusion of basaltic lava may have happened in this region. The erupted or intruded mare basalts in the later period are more abundant in Al but relatively poor in Fe, Ti, Ca, and Mg, and some of them were buried or intruded much shallowly (~33 m) under the surface ejecta.

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“…These conclusions including the high mare basalt abundance are the result of high clinopyroxene abundance in the maps of Crites and Lucey (2015). Lucey et al (2014) report very little high-Ca pyroxene in the lunar highlands, which would eliminate the need for extensive mare basalt contamination in the highlands.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

The mafic component of the lunar crust: Constraints on the crustal abundance of mantle and intrusive rock, and the mineralogy of lunar anorthosites

Crites

Lucey

Taylor

2015

American Mineralogist

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Most models of early lunar evolution predict that the anorthositic highlands crust is the result of plagioclase flotation on a magma ocean. However, the lunar highlands crust typically contains 4 wt% FeO and so is more mafic than the strict definition of the anorthosites thought to comprise it. We used new Clementine-based mineral maps of the Moon as inputs to a series of mixing models that calculate the abundance and distribution of major highland rock types and shed light on three possible sources of excess mafic material in the lunar highlands: mafic (15 vol% mafic minerals) anorthosites, postmagma ocean igneous activity, and mafic basin ejecta. Mixing models that feature pure anorthosites like the purest anorthosite (PAN) described by Ohtake et al. (2009) andPieters et al. (2009) are most compatible with the data. They allow us to place an upper limit of 10-20 vol% mantle material that could be mixed with the primary highlands crust. The upper limit on mantle material indicated by the mixing models is significantly lower than the 30-40 vol% mantle material expected from simple geometric calculations of the major lunar basins' excavation cavities based on an excavation cavity depth/diameter ratio of 1/10; this discrepancy allows us to conclude that the excavation cavities of the three largest lunar basins may have been significantly shallower than those of the smaller basins. Our results are consistent with excavation cavity depth/diameter ratios for these largest basins in the range of 0.035 to 0.06, which agrees with previous gravity measurements by Wieczorek and Phillips (1999).

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A large spectral survey of small lunar craters: Implications for the composition of the lunar mantle

Cited by 43 publications

References 40 publications

Lunar central peak mineralogy and iron content using the Kaguya Multiband Imager: Reassessment of the compositional structure of the lunar crust

Lunar central peak mineralogy and iron content using the Kaguya Multiband Imager: Reassessment of the compositional structure of the lunar crust

Lunar Cryptomare: New Insights Into the Balmer‐Kapteyn Region

The mafic component of the lunar crust: Constraints on the crustal abundance of mantle and intrusive rock, and the mineralogy of lunar anorthosites

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