Published in

Wiley, Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 9(43), p. 1517-1529, 2008

DOI: 10.1111/j.1945-5100.2008.tb01025.x

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

The lunar‐wide effects of basin ejecta distribution on the early megaregolith

Journal article published in 2008 by Noah E. Petro ORCID, Carlé M. Pieters
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Orange circle
Postprint: archiving restricted
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Abstract— The lunar surface is marked by at least 43 large and ancient impact basins, each of which ejected a large amount of material that modified the areas surrounding each basin. We present an analysis of the effects of basin formation on the entire lunar surface using a previously defined basin ejecta model. Our modeling includes several simplifying assumptions in order to quantify two aspects of basin formation across the entire lunar surface: 1) the cumulative amount of material distributed across the surface, and 2) the depth to which that basin material created a well-mixed megaregolith. We find that the asymmetric distribution of large basins across the Moon creates a considerable nearside-farside dichotomy in both the cumulative amount of basin ejecta and the depth of the megaregolith. Basins significantly modified a large portion of the nearside while the farside experienced relatively small degrees of basin modification following the formation of the large South Pole-Aitken basin. The regions of the Moon with differing degrees of modification by basins correspond to regions thought to contain geochemical signatures remnant of early lunar crustal processes, indicating that the degree of basin modification of the surface directly influenced the distribution of the geochemical terranes observed today. Additionally, the modification of the lunar surface by basins suggests that the provenance of lunar highland samples currently in research collections is not representative of the entire lunar crust. Identifying locations on the lunar surface with unique modification histories will aid in selecting locations for future sample collection.