Criteria for the detection of lunar cryptomaria

Timing and duration of mare volcanism in the central region of the northern farside of the Moon

“…the lava flows were formed from 3.9 to 2.6 Gyr ago. Previous studies of dark haloed craters and light plains revealed the presence of cryptomaria (i.e., maria that were buried by ejecta from large craters or basins) and interpreted them as evidence for ancient mare volcanism (e.g., Spudis, 1978, 1983;Hawke and Bell, 1981;Bell and Hawke, 1984;Antonenko et al, 1995). Such ancient mare volcanism has been supported by radiometric analyses of rock samples returned from the lunar nearside (e.g., Taylor et al, 1983;Dasch et al, 1987;Nyquist et al, 2001) and lunar meteorites (Terada et al, 2007), which indicate ages of 4.2-4.35 Gyr for their basalt clasts.…”

Lunar cryptomaria: Mineralogy and composition of ancient volcanic deposits

“…Ancient lunar volcanic deposits, known as cryptomaria (Head and Wilson, 1992), have been identified beneath basin ejecta deposits (e.g., Spudis, 1979, 1983;Hawke and Spudis, 1980;Hawke and Bell, 1981;Bell and Hawke, 1984;Hawke et al, 1993Hawke et al, , 2002Hawke et al, , 2005Hawke et al, , 2013Head et al, 1993;Antonenko et al, 1995;Blewett et al, 1995;Mustard and Head, 1996;Antonenko, 1999;Giguere et al, 2003;Campbell and Hawke, 2005;Lawrence et al, 2008). The name assigned to these ancient volcanic deposits, cryptomaria, implies that these ancient volcanic deposits are mare basalts.…”

Rembrandt impact basin: Distinguishing between volcanic and impact-produced plains on Mercury

“…For the Moon it is known that low-albedo smooth plains (lunar maria) are produced by volcanic eruptions. Persuasive evidence has been presented by many workers that the majority of the high-albedo smooth plains surrounding large impact basins, especially Orientale and Imbrium, are the result of ejecta-related cratering processes (e.g., Eggleton and Schaber, 1972;Oberbeck et al, 1973Oberbeck et al, , 1975Chao, 1974;Moore et al, 1974), and that only a small percentage of these lunar light plains represent cryptomaria, extrusive volcanic deposits buried by veneers of basin ejecta (Schultz and Spudis, 1979;Antonenko et al, 1995;Giguere et al, 2003;Whitten and Head, 2015a, b). Detection of lunar cryptomaria is assisted by the availability of high spatial and spectral resolution data which enables the identification of distinctive spectral and albedo contrasts.…”