Elemental and topographic mapping of lava flow structures in Mare Serenitatis on the Moon

• Published in: Planetary Remote Sensing and Mapping pp. 207 - 224
• Main Authors: Grumpe, A., Wöhler, C., Rommel, D., Bhatt, M., Mall, U.
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: CRC Press 2019
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Lava Flow; Moon Mineralogy Mapper; Current Surface Estimate; Spectral Parameters; Convex Hull; Spectral Radiance; Hyperspectral Image Data; Gaussian Low Pass Filter; Bi-directional Reflectance; Abundance Maps; High Resolution DEM; Low Pass Filter; RGB; Feldspathic Rock; Single Scattering Albedo; Spectral Radiance Data; Volcanic Vents; Mare Basalt; Gradient Field; Band II; RFM; DTM; Absorption Trough; Incidence Angle
• ISBN: 9781138584150; 1138584150
• DOI: 10.1201/9780429505997-14

In this study we present elemental abundance maps, a petrological map and a digital terrain model (DTM) of a lava flow structure in northern Mare Serenitatis at (18.0°E, 32.4°N) and two possible volcanic vents at (11.2°E, 24.6°N) and (13.5°E, 37.5°N), respectively. The abundance maps of the refractory elements Ca, Mg, Fe, Al and the petrological map are obtained based on hyperspectral image data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument. The DTM is constructed using the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) LOLA and Kaguya Terrain Camera (TC) merged SLDEM512 data in combination with a shape-from-shading based method using M3 and LRO Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) image data. The obtained NAC-based DTM has a very high effective resolution of about 1–2 m, which comes close to the resolution of the utilized NAC images without requiring intricate processing of NAC stereo image pairs. As revealed by our elemental maps and DTM, the examined lava flow structure occurs on a boundary between basalts consisting of low-Ca/high-Mg pyroxene and high-Ca/low-Mg pyroxene lithologies, respectively. The total thickness of the lava flow is about 100 m, which is composed of two or more layers based on our DTM.