Unknown

Dataset Information

0

Volcanic history of the Imbrium basin: A close-up view from the lunar rover Yutu.

ABSTRACT: We report the surface exploration by the lunar rover Yutu that landed on the young lava flow in the northeastern part of the Mare Imbrium, which is the largest basin on the nearside of the Moon and is filled with several basalt units estimated to date from 3.5 to 2.0 Ga. The onboard lunar penetrating radar conducted a 114-m-long profile, which measured a thickness of ?5 m of the lunar regolith layer and detected three underlying basalt units at depths of 195, 215, and 345 m. The radar measurements suggest underestimation of the global lunar regolith thickness by other methods and reveal a vast volume of the last volcano eruption. The in situ spectral reflectance and elemental analysis of the lunar soil at the landing site suggest that the young basalt could be derived from an ilmenite-rich mantle reservoir and then assimilated by 10-20% of the last residual melt of the lunar magma ocean.

SUBMITTER: Zhang J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4418887 | biostudies-other | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

Json Xml
altmetric image

Publications

Volcanic history of the Imbrium basin: A close-up view from the lunar rover Yutu.

Zhang Jinhai J   Yang Wei W   Hu Sen S   Lin Yangting Y   Fang Guangyou G   Li Chunlai C   Peng Wenxi W   Zhu Sanyuan S   He Zhiping Z   Zhou Bin B   Lin Hongyu H   Yang Jianfeng J   Liu Enhai E   Xu Yuchen Y   Wang Jianyu J   Yao Zhenxing Z   Zou Yongliao Y   Yan Jun J   Ouyang Ziyuan Z  

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20150413 17

We report the surface exploration by the lunar rover Yutu that landed on the young lava flow in the northeastern part of the Mare Imbrium, which is the largest basin on the nearside of the Moon and is filled with several basalt units estimated to date from 3.5 to 2.0 Ga. The onboard lunar penetrating radar conducted a 114-m-long profile, which measured a thickness of ∼5 m of the lunar regolith layer and detected three underlying basalt units at depths of 195, 215, and 345 m. The radar measuremen  ...[more]