Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p41a1585b&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P41A-1585
Other
[5410] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Composition, [5415] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Erosion And Weathering, [5464] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Remote Sensing, [5470] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Surface Materials And Properties
Scientific paper
We compare the reflectance of immature materials on the Moon and Mercury as seen in photometrically corrected (normalized to 30° phase angle) monochrome mosaics at comparable wavelengths: 566 nm (FWHM=20 nm) for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) and 560 nm (FWHM=5 nm) for the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS). Data from MDIS include the flyby mosaic (5 km/px) and images from the orbital color base map (1 km/px). The investigation of space weathering maturation effects with the high-resolution LROC (1 km/px) and MDIS orbital datasets enables a comparison of small (<20 km diameter) Kuiperian and Copernican aged craters, which is crucial for finding the least weathered material. At this time, smaller craters are underrepresented in the MDIS data since global coverage at 1 km/px for Mercury is not yet complete. To minimize the effects of possible errors in the photometric correction, only craters between 40°S and 40°N latitude were considered on each body. Immature materials, such as high-reflectance crater ejecta, are some of the youngest surfaces on Mercury and the Moon and are therefore less affected by space weathering than other terrains. On Mercury, bright crater-floor deposits have reflectances as high as those of immature crater rays, but the former are likely attributable to localized compositional differences and thus are not included in this study. Immature craters are typically identified as those with the highest-reflectance rays. If immature materials on both bodies are of the same composition, then they should have similar reflectances. We observe that immature lunar highland material has normalized reflectances that are a factor of ~1.6 higher than those for immature materials on Mercury. The markedly higher reflectance of the immature lunar material is consistent with a compositional difference between the lunar highlands and Mercury's surface materials. Continuous ejecta blankets of Copernican highland craters have normalized reflectances ranging from 0.08 to 0.21 (standard deviation 0.03). For comparison, average mature lunar highland reflectance is 0.11 (standard deviation 0.01). The normalized reflectance of the continuous ejecta blankets of Kuiperian craters on Mercury ranges from 0.06 to 0.13 (standard deviation 0.01). Average mature mercurian material has a reflectance of 0.06 (standard deviation 0.01). We also observe a larger standard deviation (0.03) for lunar immature craters than for the population of immature craters on Mercury (0.01), consistent with a faster rate of maturation on Mercury for a given material. These observations are in agreement with earlier findings from Mariner 10 data but are based here on higher-resolution images, a larger sample area on Mercury, and a closer correspondence of camera bandpass filters.
Blewett Dave T.
Braden Sarah
Denevi Brett Wilcox
Robinson Mark S.
Solomon Stanley C.
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