New Mechanisms for Anomalous Lunar Magnetism

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Various authors (see eg papers by L. Hood, M. Acuna, D.Mitchell and others in LPSC 2002) have recently pointed out the apparent antipodal alignment of Lunar magnetic anomalies with giant impact basins. We will briefly review the observations, and then outline possible mechanisms which could be responsible for these magnetic signatures. One of the most commonly used mechanisms to describe magnetic fields generated in a plasma following impact generate magnetic fields results in a field given by grad n x grad T , where n and T are the density and temperature of the plasma generated by a massive impact. This field structure is azimuthal at the site of the impact, which causes energetic electrons created in the explosion to be bent around and returned to the surface at a distance from the impact site. The resulting motions of these energetic particles produce a convection of the B field around the Moon. Since the process is symmetrical, the field, and the entrained dusty plasma arrive naturally at the antipodal point. The arrival of the shock, as well as levitation of charged dust, and the material from the impact, all produce a local population of free dust, which when it falls back to the surface will be aligned with the instantaneous field. Observations suggest that the effect is strongest in regions where there is a flat dust surface, and where there are albedo swirls, which fits well with this picture. The precise explanation will depend on the relative arrival times of the shockwaves and plasma signatures at the antipodal point, which in turn depends on the degree of mass loading of the plasma.

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