An Investigation on the Morphological and Mineralogical Characteristics of Posidonius Floor Fractured Lunar Impact Crater Using Lunar Remote Sensing Data

Abstract

Lunar floor-fractured craters (FFCs) are a distinguished type of crater found on the surface of the Moon with radial, concentric, and/or polygonal fractures. In the present study, we selected the Posidonius FCC to explore the mineralogy, morphology and tectonic characteristics using remote sensing datasets. The Posidonius crater is vested with a wide moat of lava separating the crater rim inner wall terraces from the fractured central floor. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s (LRO) images and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data were used to map the tectonics and morphology of the present study. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) data of Chandrayaan-1 were used to investigate the mineralogy of the region through specified techniques such as integrated band depth, band composite and spectral characterization. The detailed mineralogical analysis indicates the noritic-rich materials in one massif among four central peak rings and confirm intrusion (mafic pluton). Spectral analysis from the fresh crater of the Posidonius moat mare unit indicates clinopyroxene pigeonite in nature. Integrated studies of the mineralogy, morphology and tectonics revealed that the study region belongs to the Class-III category of FFCs. The lithospheric loading by adjacent volcanic load (Serenitatis basin) generates a stress state and distribution of the fracture system.

Mapping of Compositional Diversity and Chronological Ages of Lunar Farside Multiring Mare Moscoviense Basin: Implications to the Middle Imbrian Mare Basalts

“…Absorption features of 1 μm and 2 μm are the primary resources for evaluating lunar surface mineralogy, particularly for mafic minerals like olivine and pyroxenes (Burns 1993;Isaacson et al 2013;Arivazhagan & Karthi 2018;Salem et al 2022). The Integrated Band Depth (IBD) defines the band depths of absorption characteristics at 1 μm and 2 μm to distinguish spectral differences related with mafic minerals, soil maturity and space weathering (Mustard et al 2011).…”