Analyses of Three Classes of Small Lunar Pyroclastic Deposits with Clementine Data
Abstract
The U.S. Geological Survey's Integrated Software for Imaging Spectrometers (ISIS) software was used to create and examine Clementine UV-VIS multispectral mosaics (about 100 m/pixel) of areas representative of the three major compositional classes of small lunar pyroclastic deposits. Compositional analyses of these deposits may provide clues to the nature of deep-source late-stage volcanism and eruption mechanisms on the moon. Small deposits of the Atlas Crater, east of Aristoteles, and J. Herschel Crater regions are studied. The goals are (1) to understand the full extent of interdeposit compositional variations among small lunar pyroclastic deposits, (2) to evaluate the possible effects of soil maturation and lateral mixing on the 'true' compositions of these deposits, (3) to determine the prevalence and nature of intradeposit compositional variations previously observed in deposits of Alphonsus Crater, (4) to identify and characterize the juvenile components of these deposits, and (5) to understand the implications of these results for studying lunar eruption mechanisms.
- Publication:
-
Lunar and Planetary Science Conference
- Pub Date:
- March 1997
- Bibcode:
- 1997LPI....28..389G
- Keywords:
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- Lunar Rocks;
- Mineral Deposits;
- Clementine Spacecraft;
- Imaging Spectrometers;
- Geological Surveys;
- Lunar Craters;
- Volcanoes;
- Software Development Tools;
- Systems Integration;
- Ultraviolet Spectroscopy;
- Lunar Soil;
- Lunar Crust;
- Lunar and Planetary Exploration;
- PYROCLASTICS: LUNAR;
- SPECTROSCOPIC ANALYSES