Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.u31a0007h&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #U31A-0007
Other
[5420] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Impact Phenomena, Cratering, [5455] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Origin And Evolution, [6250] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Moon
Scientific paper
The 920 km diameter Orientale basin is the youngest and most well-preserved large multi-ringed impact basin on the Moon; it has not been significantly filled with mare basalts, as have other lunar impact basins, and thus the basin interior deposits and ring structures are very well-exposed and provide major insight into the formation and evolution of planetary multi-ringed impact basins. We report here on the acquisition of new altimetry data for the Orientale basin from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) on board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Pre-basin structure had a major effect on the formation of Orientale; we have mapped dozens of impact craters underlying both the Orientale ejecta (Hevelius Formation-HF) and the unit between the basin rim (Cordillera ring-CR) and the Outer Rook ring (OR) (known as the Montes Rook Formation-MRF), ranging up in size to the Mendel-Rydberg basin just to the south of Orientale; this crater-basin topography has influenced the topographic development of the basin rim (CR), sometimes causing the basin rim to lie at a topographically lower level than the inner basin rings (OR and Inner Rook-IR). In contrast to some previous interpretations, the distribution of these features supports the interpretation that the OR ring is the closest approximation to the basin excavation cavity. The total basin interior topography is highly variable and typically ranges ~6-7 km below the surrounding pre-basin surface, with significant variations in different quadrants. The inner basin depression is about 2-4 km deep below the IR plateau and these data permit the quantitative assessment of post-basin-formation thermal response to impact energy input and uplifted isotherms. The Maunder Formation (MF) consists of smooth plains (on the inner basin depression walls and floor) and corrugated deposits (on the IR plateau); this topographic configuration supports the interpretation that the MF consists of different facies of impact melt. The inner depression is floored by tilted mare basalt deposits surrounding a central pre-mare high of several hundred meters elevation and the mare is deformed by wrinkle ridges with similar topographic heights; these data permit the assessment of basin loading by mare basalts and ongoing basin thermal evolution. The depth of the 55 km diameter post-Orientale Maunder crater, located at the edge of the inner depression, is in excess of 3 km; this depth permits the quantitative assessment of the nature of the deeper sub-Orientale material sampled by the crater. New LOLA data show that the pre-Orientale Mendel-Rydberg basin just to the south may be larger, younger, fresher, and more comparable in size to Orientale than previously suspected.
Dickson James
Fassett Caleb
Head James W.
Mazarico Erwan
Neumann Gregory A.
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