Physics – Geophysics
Scientific paper
Apr 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008psrd.repte.124m&link_type=abstract
Planetary Science Research Discoveries
Physics
Geophysics
Moon, Lunar, Cryptomare, Cryptomaria, Thorium, Th-Rich, Iron Oxide, Dewar, Crater, Farside, Far Side, Lunar Prospector, Clementine, Lunar Orbiter
Scientific paper
A low-albedo area on the lunar farside near Dewar crater has the geochemical characteristics of mare basalt despite the fact that no maria have ever been identified there. The area sits in the previously-mapped Feldspathic Highlands Terrane (FHT) that is characterized by very low thorium and iron oxide abundances. Yet further remote sensing studies show the featured area near Dewar has anomalously elevated thorium, samarium, iron oxide, and titanium oxide values compared to the FHT. Samuel Lawrence (formerly at the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology and now at Arizona State University) and colleagues from Hawaii, Los Alamos National Lab, and USGS Flagstaff analyzed a suite of Lunar Prospector data, Clementine ultraviolet-visible (UVVIS) images, and Lunar Orbiter photographs to determine the composition and probable origin of the Dewar anomaly. The body of evidence points to excavated material from a farside buried mare basalt, or cryptomare, derived from a mag ma with enhanced thorium concentrations.
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