Insights into Pyroclastic Volcanism on the Moon with LROC Data

Details Insights into Pyroclastic Volcanism on the Moon with LROC Data Insights into Pyroclastic Volcanism on the Moon with LROC Data

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.u31a0009g&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #U31A-0009

Other

[5464] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Remote Sensing, [5480] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Volcanism, [6250] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Moon

Scientific paper

Lunar pyroclastic deposits are high-priority targets for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. Images from the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC; 0.5 m/pixel) and Wide Angle Camera (WAC; 7 bands, 100 m/p visible, 400 m/p ultraviolet) are being acquired. Studies of pyroclastic deposits with LRO data have the potential to resolve major questions concerning their distribution, composition, volume, eruptive styles, and role in early lunar volcanism. Analyses of LROC Commissioning and early Exploration Phase data focus on preliminary assessment of morphology and compositional variation among lunar pyroclastic deposits. At sites such as Rima Bode, Sulpicius Gallus, Aristarchus plateau, and Humorum, Alphonsus and Oppenheimer craters, LROC data are being used to search for evidence that may allow us to identify separate eruptive episodes from the same vent, pulses of magma intrusions and/or crustal dikes, and possible changes in composition and volatility of source materials with time. Preliminary observations of NAC data for possible pyroclastic vents reveal typically smooth, dark surfaces with variations in surface texture, roughness, and apparent albedo that may be related to differences in eruption mechanism and/or duration. Evidence of layering at some sites suggest low-volume eruptions or multiple events. Further analyses of LROC data will allow identification of intra-deposit compositional variations, possible juvenile components, and evaluation of the distributions and relative amounts of juvenile vs. host-rock components. Combined NAC and WAC data also will enable us to characterize spatial extents, distributions, and compositions of pyroclastic deposits and relate them to other sampled glass types and possibly to their associated basalts. WAC color data will be used to characterize titanium contents of pyroclastic deposits, to map the diversity of effusive and pyroclastic units with variable titanium contents that are currently not recognized, and to identify which pyroclastic deposits are the best sources of titanium and associated volatile elements. Using NAC stereo data, meter-scale topographic models of the surface will allow us to better constrain emplacement and distribution of possible juvenile materials, the geometry of small pyroclastic eruptions, and models of their eruption.

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