Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 2
Quantitative Characterization of Lunar
Mare Orientale Basalts Detected by Moon
Mineralogical Mapper on Chandrayaan-1
S. Arivazhagan
Abstract
Efficient lunar resource utilization requires accurate and quantitative
evaluation of mineral and glass abundances, distribution, and extraction feasibility,
especially for ilmenite (TiO
2
). The modal analyses have performed on lunar basaltic
terrains using hyperspectral remote sensing data along with ground truth chemistry
and mineralogy. The main aim of the present work is to characterize the lunar
Mare Orientale basalts based on TiO
2
content and quantify the lunar surface
minerals, including clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, plagioclase, and olivine. The
Orientale basin is one of the youngest impact multi-ringed basins on the Moon
covering 930 km in diameter centered at 20
ı
S95
ı
W. The morphological features
in the Orientale basin have developed interest among geoscientist to explore further
study on this region. Based on the Apollo orbital, geochemical, and Earth-based
spectral data, it is concluded that the Orientale ejecta are uniformly feldspathic in
composition, almost pure anorthosite with no evidence of ultramafic components
(Hawke, Geophys Res Lett 18(11):2141-2144, 1991). Greeley et al. (Geophys
Res 98:17183-17205, 1993) have conferred the Orientale basin bearing the low-
Ti basalts by using Galileo images. In this study, parts of basaltic regions of Mare
Orientale, Lacus Veris, and Lacus Autumni of the Orientale basin are investigated
using Moon Mineralogical Mapper (M
3
) data of onboard Chandrayaan-1 orbiter.
Lucey's (1998) TiO
2
estimation method and spectral profiles and spectral unmixing
techniques have been used to detect and map the minerals, including plagioclase,
clinopyroxene, orthopyroxenes, olivine, and various basalts such as low-, medium-,
and high-Ti basalts. The Orientale data were acquired by M
3
's reduced resolution
mode with 20-40 nm spectral resolution and 140 m/pixel across the 40 km field of
view. The RELAB mineral spectra of plagioclase, clino/orthopyroxenes, olivine and
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