The Sculptured Hills of the Taurus Highlands: Implications for the relative age of Serenitatis, basin chronologies and the cratering history of the Moon
The Sculptured Hills of the Taurus Highlands: Implications for the relative age of Serenitatis, basin chronologies and the cratering history of the Moon
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金牛座高地的雕刻山丘：对塞伦尼塔蒂斯相对年龄、盆地年表和月球陨石坑历史的影响
DOI：
10.1029/2011je003903
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发表时间：
2011
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
M. Robinson
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
P. Spudis;D. Wilhelms;M. Robinson
[1]来自月球勘测轨道器相机的新图像显示了雕塑山的分布和地质关系，这是一个广泛分布在Serenitatis和Crisium盆地之间高地的地质单位。雕塑山显示出多节的、起伏的、放射状纹理的和平原状的形态，在许多地方与类似的多节阿尔卑斯组（Imperial盆地喷出物的一种相）无法区分。新的LROC图像数据显示，金牛座高地的雕塑山是Imperial喷出物，与Serenitatis盆地的形成没有直接关系。这一事件和该单位的地质关系表明，阿波罗17号撞击熔融物可能不是Serenitatis盆地形成撞击的样本，使其来源不明，起源不明。如果阿波罗17号的熔融岩石是Serenitatis的撞击熔融物，那么月球上多达一半的盆地和大型陨石坑都是在3.8 Ga左右的30 Ma间隔内在全球撞击“灾难”中形成的。这两种解释都极大地改变了我们对地月系统撞击过程和历史的看法。
[1] New images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera show the distribution and geological relations of the Sculptured Hills, a geological unit widespread in the highlands between the Serenitatis and Crisium basins. The Sculptured Hills shows knobby, undulating, radially textured, and plains-like morphologies and in many places is indistinguishable from the similarly knobby Alpes Formation, a facies of ejecta from the Imbrium basin. The new LROC image data show that the Sculptured Hills in the Taurus highlands is Imbrium ejecta and not directly related to the formation of the Serenitatis basin. This occurrence and the geological relations of this unit suggests that the Apollo 17 impact melts may not be not samples of the Serenitatis basin-forming impact, leaving their provenance undetermined and origin unexplained. If the Apollo 17 melt rocks are Serenitatis impact melt, up to half of the basin and large crater population of the Moon was created within a 30 Ma interval around 3.8 Ga in a global impact “cataclysm.” Either interpretation significantly changes our view of the impact process and history of the Earth-Moon system.