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46th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2015) 1651.

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A NEW GLOBAL FEO MAP OF THE MOON BY DIVINER IMAGE. X. Tang1, Y. Z. Wu1, Z. C. Wang2, X.
W. Zhang1, Y. Chen1, X. M. Zhang1. 1School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nan-
jing, 210023, China (tangxiaonju@qq.com), 2School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nan-
jing, 210023, China.

Introduction: The global FeO maps of the Moon Estimating FeO abundances. The FeO contents of
have been produced using visible and near infrared returned soils [2, 11] and feldspathic lunar meteorites
reflectance spectroscopy (VNIR) [1–4] and gamma ray [12] are used as ground truth and correlated with the
spectroscopy [5]. There is no high resolution global CF value of the landing site and lunar farside highland
FeO abundances map based on mid-infrared bands extracted from Diviner CF data. Staring with the lati-
until now. The FeO map from mid-infrared data could tude and longitude of each station, The CF values of 26
provide a good contrast with those products from other sampling stations from CF data were manually extract-
data. A better calculated result of iron contents will ed by comparison with published traverse maps. A
provide better understanding of compositions of lunar lunar farside highland (LFH) sample point was brought
surface. in order to break the limitation of all sample points
Mid-infrared remote sensing has a long history in being from nearside of lunar and the lack of plagio-
the field of lunar and planetary science, and plays an clase sample. The FeO abundance of LFH point adopts
important role in the classification and determination the average measurement of lunar highland meteorite
lunar minerals and element content [6]. Diviner data samples. By contrasting FeO abundance and CF value
and a series of data products have been published on of each points, a good correlation was established in
the Geosciences Node of NASA’s Planetary Data Sys- this study. The linear fitting was proved to be the best
tem [7], which provides a good opportunity to study approach to estimating FeO abundances (Fig. 1).
FeO content. The high correlation between Christian-
sen Feature (CF) wavelength and FeO abundances has
the potential to provide an independent tool to derive
FeO abundance [8]. The FeO abundances at serveral
lunar pyroclastic deposits (LPDs) have been estimated
by Allen based on CF [8]. The purpose of this study is
to investigate whether high correlation exit at global
scale and to produce global FeO map of the Moon us-
ing the mid-infrared remote sensing technology.
Data: Diviner, which is on board NASA’s Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), is a multi-channel ra-
diometer that maps the reflected solar radiation and
emitted thermal radiation of lunar surface at a resolu-
tion of ~200m/pixel at lunar equator [9]. Channels 3-5
of Diviner have relatively narrow pass-bands near 8μm Fig. 1. The scatter plot of FeO abundances and CF.
and sufficient signal-to-noise ratio to allow accurate
spectral location of the emissivity maximum, which can
characterize the CF for compositional information of
silicates [10].
Methods: Christiansen Feature. CF occurs at the
wavelength near 8 μm just shorter than position of fun-
damental frequency vibration where the absorption is
relatively weak. In this area, the index of refraction of
mineral grain changes quickly and is comparable to the
surrounding medium, resulting in backscatter minimum.
Absorption and backscatter minimum hence result in
the emission maximum. CF values were demonstrated
to be sensitive to lunar minerals [6] and also to corre-
late to the major elements composing minerals. CF
values shift to longer wavelength with increase in mafic Fig. 2. The histogram of FeO abundance for the Moon
content of the silicate minerals. (±60°) derived from Diviner.
46th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2015) 1651.pdf

Results and Discussion: The linear fitting result Table 1 shows the comparison between those re-
was shown in Fig. 1. The regression line is FeO = sults and our results. The average FeO abundances of
65.47 × CF – 527.938. The correlation index is up to the moon (±60°) is 8.2 wt.% in this study; the highland
0.89, which proves the high correlation between CF average is 4.7 wt.%; the modal abundance is 5.4 wt.%;
wavelength and FeO abundances. The statistical histo- and the mare mode is 15.7 wt.%.
gram in Fig. 2 shows the bimodal distribution, which The maturity is defined as the optical properties of
corresponds to lunar highland and mare basalts. The surface having been changed in systematic ways for
first peak represents highland area and the other repre- space-weathering effect during the long exposure time
sents mare area. The convexity of second peak appears [14], such as spectral darkening, reddening and sub-
weak correspond to the less coverage of mare basalts dued absorption bands [14]. The CF values shift to
comparing with highlands. The shape of the histogram longer wavelengths with increasing maturity. In future
of FeO derived from Diviner CF data is similar to those work, we will build a modal (by comparison CF wave-
results from Clementine and IIM data [3, 5]. length between nearest maturity soil and fresh soil at
According to the regression equation, FeO abun- little crater ) to decrease the effect of maturity. Specific
dance map of the Moon was produced using Diviner analysis using CF data at microcosmic area may be
CF data between 60°N to 60°S (Fig. 3). The highland difficult for striping noise, but it is precise enough to
and mare are separately clearly seen in Fig. 3. The new study at large sacle.
FeO map shows that northwest Imbrium, south Procel- Summary: This study obtained the high correlation
larum, Mare Tranquillitatis and Fecunditatis (maximum between CF wavelength and FeO abundances at global
FeO is 24.3 wt.%, 24.2 wt.%, 24.2 wt.%, 24.0 wt.% sacle. New map of FeO abundances was produced us-
correspondingly) have relatively higher mafic contents. ing mid-infrared bands. The results were feasible and
The average FeO abundance of Tsiolkovskii is 15.3 enriched the iron study in mid-infrared bands.
wt.%, closed to those mares on lunar nearside. References: [1] Lucey P. G. et al. (1995) Science,
Table 1: The comparison with the results of Clementine, 268, 1150–1153. [2] Lucey P. G. et al. (2000) JGR,
LP-GRS, and IIM data. (unit: wt.%) 105(E8): 20297–20305. [3] Wu Y. Z. et al. (2012)
data Global Highland Global Mare JGR, 117(E2). [4] Wu Y. Z. (2012) GCA, 93: 214–234.
avg. avg. mode mode [5] Lawrence D. J. et al. (2002) JGR, 107(E12). [6]
Clementine [2] 8.6 4.5 5.8 - Conel J. E. (1969), JGR,74(6): 1614–1634. [7]
Clementine [5] 8.1 5.1 5.7 - http://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu. [8] Allen C. C. (2012)
Clementine [13] 8.6 4.4 5.7 - JGR, 117(E12). [9] Paige D. A. et al. (2010) Space
LP-GRS [5] 7.7 4.3 4.7 - Science Reviews, 150(1–4): 125–160. [10] Greenhagen
IIM [3] - 4.73 3.65 15.09 B. T. et al. (2010) Science, 329(5998): 1507–1509. [11]
IIM [4] - - 5.57 15.27 Heiken G. H. (1991) Lunar Sourcebook. [12] Korotev
This study* 8.2 4.7 5.4 15.7 R. L. (2003) GCA, 67(24), 4895–4923. [13] Gillis J. J.
*The coverage of Diviner CF data is ±60° (2004) GCA,68(18): 3791–3805. [14] Hapke B. (2001)
JGR, 106(E5), 10039–10073.

Fig. 3. The FeO abundance map derived from Diviner CF data.

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