The Mineralogy of Late-Stage Lunar Volcanism as Observed by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper on Chandrayaan-1

Details The Mineralogy of Late-Stage Lunar Volcanism as Observed by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper on Chandrayaan-1 The Mineralogy of Late-Stage Lunar Volcanism as Observed by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper on Chandrayaan-1

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.p23b1250s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #P23B-1250

Mathematics

Logic

[5410] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Composition, [6250] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Moon

Scientific paper

The last major phases of lunar volcanism produced spectrally unique, high-titanium basalts on the western nearside of the Moon. Various techniques have dated many of these flows as younger than 3.0 Ga [1]; some areas may have erupted as recently as ~1.2 Ga [2, 3], or almost two billion years after the youngest basalts obtained on sample return missions. The reflectance properties of these mare deposits, which occur in Oceanus Procellarum and Mare Imbrium, were first characterized based on telescopic spectra of their soils that showed a relatively strong 1 μm feature and an attenuated or weak 2 μm absorption, consistent with the presence of abundant olivine or Fe-rich glass [4]. Subsequent studies of mare craters and soils using higher spatial resolution Clementine data have further supported interpretations of the presence of abundant olivine within these basalts [5, 6]; however, these data lack the spectral resolution necessary for detailed mineralogical characterizations. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) on Chandrayaan-1 has provided detailed new measurements of these basalts at spatial and spectral resolutions required for mineralogical interpretation and mapping of distinct compositional units. The M3 imaging spectrometer covers the wavelength range of ~430 to 3000 nm, acquiring data in 85 spectral bands at 140 to 280 m/pixel in its global mapping mode and 259 spectral bands and higher spatial resolutions in it’s targeted-mode. M3 has confirmed the presence of strong 1 μm and relatively weak 2 μm absorptions for fresh craters and mare soils within these late-stage basalts. The strength of these features, relative to typical lunar basalts dominated by 1 and 2 μm pyroxene absorptions, is observed to vary spatially and stratigraphically. Optically immature craters within younger flows display very-strong and long-wavelength 1 μm ferrous absorptions and very-weak two micron absorptions consistent with abundant olivine and picritic basalt compositions. Mare deposits with spectral properties similar to these late-stage high-titanium basalts have not been observed to date in other regions of the Moon. Detailed analysis of these new data are in progress to provide further constraints on the mineralogy, olivine abundance, and compositions of these final products of lunar volcanism and the nature and evolution of their source regions. References: [1] Boyce, J.M. (1976) PLPSC 4th, 3167-3174. [2] Schultz, P.H. and P.D. Spudis (1983), Nature, 302,233-236. [3] Hiesinger, H. et al. (2003), JGR, 108, E7, 5065. [4] Pieters et al. (1980), JGR, 85, 3913-3938. [5] Staid, M.I. and C.M. Pieters (2001), JGR, 27,887-27,900. [6] Lucey, P. G., (2004), GRL, 31, LO8701.

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