Mercury'S Dark Plains West Of Caloris Basin--high Ca Clinopyroxene, Na-rich Plagioclase, Mg-rich Olivine, Tio2: Caloris Basin--k-spar, High Ca Clinopyroxene, Tio2, Na-rich Plagioclase, Hornblende And Mg- And Ca-rich Garnets

Details Mercury'S Dark Plains West Of Caloris Basin--high Ca Clinopyroxene, Na-rich Plagioclase, Mg-rich Olivine, Tio2: Caloris Basin--k-spar, High Ca Clinopyroxene, Tio2, Na-rich Plagioclase, Hornblende And Mg- And Ca-rich Garnets Mercury'S Dark Plains West Of Caloris Basin--high Ca Clinopyroxene, Na-rich Plagioclase, Mg-rich Olivine, Tio2: Caloris Basin--k-spar, High Ca Clinopyroxene, Tio2, Na-rich Plagioclase, Hornblende And Mg- And Ca-rich Garnets

Sep 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dps....40.5103s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #51.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.490

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We identify mineral phases and approximate abundances on Mercury's surface for spectral measurements made over Caloris Basin and the dark plains to the west. Our results are obtained by fitting spectra obtained with the Mid-Infrared Spectrometer and Imager (MIRSI) at the Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) using an established spectral deconvolution algorithm (Ramsey 1996, Ph.D. Dissertation, ASU; Ramsey and Christiansen 1998, JGR). We have assembled several laboratory mineral spectral libraries (JHU, Salisbury et al. 1987, Open-File Report 87-263, USGS; JPL, http://speclib.jpl.nasa.gov; RELAB, http://www.planetary.brown.edu/relab; ASU, Christensen et al. 2000, JGR; BED, Helbert et al. 2007, Adv. Space Res.; USGS, Clark et al. 2007, USGS digital spectral library) with a wide range of known mineral compositions with grain sizes ranging from the finest separates, 0 - 45 µm, incrementally increasing to 250 - 400 µm. Head et al. and Murchie et al. (Science, 2008) show ample evidence for one or more episodes of extrusive volcanism in around Caloris Basin. Our spectral fitting suggests similarities and differences between Caloris infill and the dark plains to the west. Both contain high-Ca clinopyroxene, Mg-rich orthopyroxene (Sprague et al. 1998, Icarus), Na-rich to intermediate plagioclase (Sprague et al. 1994, Icarus), and TiO2 likely in the form of rutile. Sanidine appears to be the dominate K-spar in Caloris Basin, but not in the dark plains (Donaldson Hanna et al. 2008, EGU Abs). A slight improvement in spectral fitting was made to one spectrum from Caloris by including a Na- and K-rich hornblende. In addition small abundances of pyrope and grossular (Ca- and Mg-rich garnets) are apparently present in Caloris Basin infill. This indicates extrusive volcanic episodes moved lava to the surface quickly before entrained garnets from the upper mantle could dissolve and equilibrate with the source magma. This work was funded by NSF AST0406796.

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