Geophysical Constraints on Lunar Features from Gravity and LOLA Altimetric Data

Details Geophysical Constraints on Lunar Features from Gravity and LOLA Altimetric Data Geophysical Constraints on Lunar Features from Gravity and LOLA Altimetric Data

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p41f..02m&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P41F-02

Physics

[5417] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Gravitational Fields, [5420] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Impact Phenomena, Cratering, [5480] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Volcanism

Scientific paper

We investigate the geophysical properties of small-scale surface features on the Moon, such as southern nearside craters in the 20-60km range and potential shield volcanoes (e.g. Rümker; Spudis et al., LPSC 2011). We estimate the density of the material beneath the collapsed floor of small nearside craters and the density of volcanic edifices, based on the LOLA topography data and gravitational information. We conduct the analysis with a recent degree 200 gravity field (LPE200) and directly from line-of-sight residuals when necessary. A model of the crater transient cavity shape is used to estimate the volume of the material whose density is estimated, in order to put constraints on the crater formation process. Lithosphere flexure due to the volcanic constructs is considered for the larger features. The gravity field solution was obtained from the Lunar Prospector line-of-sight Doppler data, using localized spherical harmonics to better resolve the nearside gravity anomalies (down to ~23km, which corresponds to degree 200). It shows excellent admittance and correlation at high degrees compared to existing fields such as LP150Q and GLGM-3. Although the upcoming GRAIL mission will provide a finer and more accurate view of the gravity anomalies, this study will demonstrate how gravity and topography datasets can be combined to constrain the geophysical properties of the lunar sub-surface.

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