Mineralogy of Mare Serenitatis on the near side of the Moon based on Chandrayaan-1 Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) observations

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.

Section: Mineralogical Features Of Cryptomare Dhc 53mentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Lunar Cryptomare: New Insights Into the Balmer‐Kapteyn Region

Wang

Qiu

2018

“…It has been realized that the surfaces of some maria are not wholly covered by mare basalts (e.g., Pieters et al, ; Spudis et al, ). At present, there are mainly two methods of identifying the distribution of MB on the lunar surface from orbit: one used the high FeO abundances obtained from Clementine UV‐VIS, LP GRS, or CE‐1 IIM data (e.g., Ling et al, ; Pasckert et al, ; Spudis et al, ), and the other employed the spectral characteristic of the high‐Ca pyroxene detected by Chandrayaan‐1 M 3 (e.g., Kaur et al, ; Whitten & Head, ) or combined the high‐Ca pyroxene spectrum and the enhanced FeO content observed by Clementine UV‐VIS (e.g., Giguere et al, ; Hawke et al, ). As indicated in Figure and some previous studies (Lucey et al, ; Snape et al, ; Wieczorek et al, ), some of KBs, ferroan anorthosites (FANs), quartz monzodiorites (QMD), monzogabbros, and gabbronorites also have relatively high FeO concentrations (>15 wt % (Wieczorek et al, ), and some >18 wt % (Lucey et al, ; Wieczorek et al, ), e.g., the QMD 15434,10/,178b has an FeO abundance of 26.2 wt % (Ryder & Martinez, ; Wieczorek et al, ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been realized that the surfaces of some maria are not wholly covered by mare basalts (e.g., Pieters et al, 2014;Spudis et al, 2014). At present, there are mainly two methods of identifying the distribution of MB on the lunar surface from orbit: one used the high FeO abundances obtained from Clementine UV-VIS, LP GRS, or CE-1 IIM data (e.g., Ling et al, 2016;Pasckert et al, 2015;Spudis et al, 2014), and the other employed the spectral characteristic of the high-Ca pyroxene detected by Chandrayaan-1 M 3 (e.g., Kaur et al, 2013;Whitten & Head, 2015) or combined the high-Ca pyroxene spectrum and the enhanced FeO content observed by Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets…”

Section: Distribution Of the Mare Basaltmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This work focuses on the distribution of various lunar rock suites. At present, studies on the distribution of the rock suites on the lunar surface mainly lie in two aspects: (1) the mapping of various rock suites across the Moon or in a locale (e.g., Chen et al, 2014;Du et al, 2010;Li et al, 2007;Ling et al, 2014Ling et al, , 2016Wöhler et al, 2011) and (2) the potential positions of a single rock suite (or the member rock of a single rock suite) on the lunar surface, for example, MS (e.g., Dhingra et al, 2011;Klima et al, 2011;Pieters et al, 2011Pieters et al, , 2014Shearer et al, 2015), AS (e.g., Difrancesco et al, 2015;Lucey et al, 2006), or mare basalts (e.g., Kaur et al, 2013;Whitten & Head, 2015;Pasckert et al, 2015). With regard to the first research aspect on rock suite distribution, three elements of Mg, Al, and Fe derived from Clementine with visible and near-infrared imagery (Wöhler et al, 2011) or three chemical indices (Mg# (Mg# = Mg/(Mg + Fe)), FeO and Th) inferred by LP GRNS or by both LP GRNS and Chang'E-1 (CE-1) Interference Imaging Spectrometer (IIM) (e.g., Du et al, 2010;Ling et al, 2014; were employed to determine the distribution of various rock suites.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

New Insights Into Lithology Distribution Across the Moon

Wang

Zhao

2017

Lithology distribution across the Moon is pivotal for understanding lunar evolution. However, so far, the distribution of lunar rock suites is still uncertain; as a result, many related core issues on lunar evolution have long been in dispute. This work reports on a new lithology distribution map across the Moon and discusses some critical issues of the lunar evolutionary process. The oxide abundances derived from Chang'E‐1 Interference Imaging Spectrometer imagery and the Th contents inferred by Lunar Prospector Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer data are employed to generate the lithological map by using the decision tree C5.0 algorithm. The following conclusions are inferred from this new map. (1) Magnesian suite is widely distributed across the Feldspathic Highlands Terrane and in the periphery of the South Pole‐Aitken Terrane. Thus, the viewpoints have been validated that the early magnesian magmatism may be a global phenomenon and that KREEP basalt is not necessary for the petrogenesis of Mg‐rich rocks. Moreover, the regions of Dryden, Chaffee S, Theophilus, and Moscoviense are confirmed as magnesian suite exposures. (2) The observation that the Feldspathic Highlands Terrane has a higher Mg/(Mg + Fe) value than the maria is related to the flood of the Mg suite across the Feldspathic Highlands Terrane. (3) The specific exposed locations of the alkali suite across the Moon have long been unsolved, and this work discloses that the alkali suite prevails in the outskirts of the Procellarum KREEP Terrane, the center of the South Pole‐Aitken Terrane, and some isolated locales. (4) Focusing on distinguishing mare basalts from other mafic rocks, seven geochemical indices are proposed to determine the potential exposures of mare basalts across the Moon. (5) In Mare Insularum, a series of KREEP volcanisms may have occurred and lasted longer than the mare volcanism.

Mineralogical variation of the late stage mare basalts

Zhang

Bugiolacchi

et al. 2016

The last major phases of lunar volcanism occurred mainly in Oceanus Procellarum and Mare Imbrium and produced spectrally unique medium‐ and high‐titanium basalts. The composition and distribution of these basalts provide a record of the late stage thermal evolution of the Moon. To study the spectral and mineralogical variations of the late stage mare basalts, 31 distinct units were mapped employing a range of remote sensing data. Their inferred mineralogical characteristics were studied by analyzing the spectral features of small, fresh craters derived from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) data. The strongest olivine spectral signatures were found around Lichtenberg crater, while the units with the lowest olivine/pyroxene ratio occurred mainly in the southern Kepler crater and some local areas. In Oceanus Procellarum, the olivine/pyroxene ratio decreases progressively from the Lichtenberg crater to the southern units. The northern and southern units within Mare Imbrium have higher olivine/pyroxene ratios than the central ones. The inferred abundance of olivine appears to vary stratigraphically, with the younger flows being more olivine rich. However, the stratigraphically younger units around Euler crater in Mare Imbrium, which present as dark red hues in the integrated band depth image of M3, were found to have lower olivine/pyroxene ratios than the units around Lichtenberg crater (shown as light red hues) in Oceanus Procellarum. It could be interpreted that the late stage mare basalts around Lichtenberg crater originated from a more olivine‐rich source than those around Euler crater.