Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmdi43a1941m&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #DI43A-1941
Mathematics
Logic
[5455] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Origin And Evolution, [6250] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Moon
Scientific paper
In order to understand the evolution and interior dynamics of the Moon, it is necessary to understand the petrogenesis of the mare basalts which dominate the nearside surface. Samples and observations from the Apollo program have helped put constraints on the composition and the geological processes of the mare basalts. Geochemical and petrological studies of lunar samples suggest that this magmatism must have originated from a heterogeneous mantle and were mostly emplaced between 3.85 and 3.0 billion years ago although the depth of the source regions of the mare basalts is poorly constrained by petrological experiments with estimated depths ranging from 100 to 500 km [Shearer et al, 2006]. This leads to different hypotheses with shallow and deep physical processes for mare basalt genesis [Zhong et al, 2000 and Wieczorek and Phillips, 2000]. Another important first order observation from the Apollo era is the presence of moonquakes recorded by the Apollo Seismic Network. Significant work has been done to locate the hypocenters of the moonquakes, especially those deemed deep moonquake clusters [e.g., Nakamura, 1982]. The deep moonquakes (DMQs) were found to occur at depths of 700-900 km in about 300 clusters or “nests” mostly on the nearside [Nakamura 2003, 2005]. Understanding the location and cause of the DMQ will help constrain the current state of the mantle, including the presence of heterogeneties. While it remains unresolved whether the nearside distribution of DMQs is due to biasing effects of the nearside distribution of Apollo seismic stations, it has been suggested that most of the DMQ nests tend to occur near mare basalt terrains [Minshull and Goult, 1988]. In this study, we have correlated the presence of mare basalts with the epicenters of ~100 deep moonquake clusters, using recent remote sensing data of FeO as a proxy for mare basalts [e.g.,Lawrence et al, 2000] and newly compiled locations of DMQs clusters [Nakamura, 2005]. Our results show that as many as 86% of the DMQs are within 5 degrees of mare basalts with FeO concentrations greater than 9%. Our analysis also rejects the random distribution of DMQs with regard to mare basalts. Given the lack of mare basalts on the farside, save some large craters, and the clear correlation between the basalts and DMQs it might be possible that DMQs are predominantly nearside features and closely related to the mare basalts. If this relationship is correct, then the origin of the mare basalts might be much deeper than previously thought in order to correlate with the known depths of the deep moonquakes.
Muirhead A. C.
Zhong Sijia
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