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The distribution of olivine in the Crater Aristarchus inferred from Clementine NIR data
Author(s) -
Le Mouélic Stéphane,
Langevin Yves,
Erard Stéphane
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/1999gl900180
Subject(s) - olivine , clementine (nuclear reactor) , impact crater , geology , pyroxene , mantle (geology) , mineralogy , geochemistry , remote sensing , astrobiology , physics
Clementine imaged the Moon entirely at eleven wavelengths. This paper presents new results obtained on the crater Aristarchus using a heuristic method for the calibration of the near infrared (NIR) data set. We computed band ratios and we extracted spectra using a telescopic spectrum as reference. A new ∼4×10 km olivine rich area has been identified on the southeastern rim of the crater, in addition to a smaller olivine rich area previously reported. The olivine to pyroxene ratio exceeds 6 in this new zone. This demonstrates the uniqueness of the Clementine NIR data set in discriminating olivine from pyroxene on the lunar surface, with implications for magmatic processes in the lunar mantle and crust.