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Rugged crater ejecta as a guide to megaregolith thickness in the southern nearside of the Moon

2009; Geological Society of America; Volume: 37; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1130/g25565a.1

1943-2682

T. W. Thompson, B. A. Campbell, R. R. Ghent, B. R. Hawke,

Geology and Paleoclimatology Research

Research Article| July 01, 2009 Rugged crater ejecta as a guide to megaregolith thickness in the southern nearside of the Moon Thomas W. Thompson; Thomas W. Thompson * 1Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Mail-Stop 300-227, Pasadena, California 91109-8099, USA *E-mail: Thomas.W.Thompson@jpl.nasa.gov. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Bruce A. Campbell; Bruce A. Campbell 2National Air and Space Museum, Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, Smithsonian Institution, MRC 315, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Rebecca R. Ghent; Rebecca R. Ghent 3University of Toronto, Department of Geology, 22 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B1, Canada Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar B. Ray Hawke B. Ray Hawke 4Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai‘i, 1680 East-West Road, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Thomas W. Thompson * 1Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Mail-Stop 300-227, Pasadena, California 91109-8099, USA Bruce A. Campbell 2National Air and Space Museum, Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, Smithsonian Institution, MRC 315, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012, USA Rebecca R. Ghent 3University of Toronto, Department of Geology, 22 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B1, Canada B. Ray Hawke 4Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai‘i, 1680 East-West Road, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA *E-mail: Thomas.W.Thompson@jpl.nasa.gov. Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 23 Oct 2008 Revision Received: 10 Mar 2009 Accepted: 18 Mar 2009 First Online: 02 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2682 Print ISSN: 0091-7613 © 2009 Geological Society of America Geology (2009) 37 (7): 655–658. https://doi.org/10.1130/G25565A.1 Article history Received: 23 Oct 2008 Revision Received: 10 Mar 2009 Accepted: 18 Mar 2009 First Online: 02 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Permissions Search Site Citation Thomas W. Thompson, Bruce A. Campbell, Rebecca R. Ghent, B. Ray Hawke; Rugged crater ejecta as a guide to megaregolith thickness in the southern nearside of the Moon. Geology 2009;; 37 (7): 655–658. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G25565A.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract The southern highlands of the Moon comprise superposed ejecta layers, individually as thick as a few kilometers, from the major basins. Smaller (1–16-km-diameter) impact craters that penetrate this layered megaregolith and excavate material from depth have radar properties that provide insight into the variability of megaregolith thickness above a postulated basement of large crustal blocks. We observe a significant difference in the population of radar-bright craters, 1–16 km and larger in diameter, between regions of the southeastern near-side highlands north and south of ~lat 48°S. There are about one-third more radar-bright craters north of this line than to the south, broadly coincident with the mapped boundary between southern deposits mapped as pre-Nectarian age and those of Nectarian–Imbrian age to the north. The radar-bright crater population is consistent with a megaregolith thickness of ~1.5 km in the north and ~2.5 km in the south, a difference we attribute to South Pole–Aitken basin ejecta. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.