Lunar cryptomaria: Physical characteristics, distribution, and implications for ancient volcanism

Gravitational search for cryptovolcanism on the Moon: Evidence for large volumes of early igneous activity

“…4 also shows a north-south arc of positive Bouguer anomalies roughly along a longitude of 120 °E. Parts of these anomalies correspond to areas of enhanced DHC density in the work of Schultz and Spudis (1979) and have been mapped as cryptomare by Whitten and Head (2015a) . Of particular interest is an area near the center of this arc, which corresponds to the Lomonosov-Fleming region ( Fig.…”

“…However, while gammaray measurements are not as restricted as spectral reflectance measurements in their penetration depth, they are still only sensitive to iron abundances down to ∼30 cm below the lunar surface. Thus, our proposed deposits that are not located in areas exhibiting elevated iron abundances are constrained to be at burial depths of at least 10 s of cm (and likely more, based on the lack of DHCs in some of these areas ( Whitten and Head, 2015a )). …”

Lunar cryptomaria: Mineralogy and composition of ancient volcanic deposits

“…The most areally extensive cryptomaria are associated with ancient impact basins, such as Schiller-Zucchius and Lomonosov-Fleming, while the remaining deposits are associated with other smaller impact structures. Cryptomaria are detected by the identification of a DHC clinopyroxene mineralogy; high concentrations of DHCs superposed on light smooth plains are indicative of a cryptomare deposit (Whitten and Head, 2015). No cryptomaria have been positively identified on the walls or central peak of a large impact crater or basin.…”

“…A total of 1020 reflectance spectra (3 Â 3 pixel averages) were collected from individual DHCs located within 20 mapped cryptomare locations and any associated exposed mare basalt deposits (Figs. 1a and S1; Tables S1 and S2) (Whitten and Head, 2015). Each region of mapped cryptomare contains between 1 and 40 individual volcanic ponds ( Fig.…”

“…Therefore, we have undertaken a study of the mineralogy of DHCs identified in Whitten and Head (2015) using Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M 3 ) VNIR spectral data, as well as an analysis of LP GRS elemental data. The purpose of this investigation is to: (1) determine the mineralogy of mapped cryptomaria to ascertain if some or all of the deposits are mare basalts, (2) investigate the mineralogical variations both within a cryptomare region and also between cryptomare regions, (3) measure the compositional characteristics (Th and FeO) of all identified cryptomaria to further characterize and constrain their compositions, and (4) understand how calculated cryptomaria mineralogies compare with ancient volcanic lithologies from the Apollo sample collection.…”