A Comprehensive Inventory of Mare Basalt Ages and Quantifiable Lunar Morphologies Related to Dominant Surface Features on Earth Ricardo Delgado1, Lauren Hernandez1, Suzi Romero1, Kraig Orcutt2, Santiago Vallejo1 1 Waco Independent School District 2 Academy Independent School District Introduction Introduction Methodology, cont. Our research involved creating a In following the goals for the 2007 Scientific Context for Exploration of the Moon: Final We chose to use radiometric dating data if it was available and then use crater counting comprehensive list of numerous mare basalt Report, we can use the surface features of the Moon to bettertter understand Earth’sEarth s planetaryplanetary data because we could get a lot of data for a wider range of sites, and this would help us be ages, comparing Moon characteristics to characteristics. able to pick a site that would be both interesting and useful. dominant features on the Earth, and identifying various lunar sites that can fill in the gaps in Quakes Impact Cratering Because we found that some mare had numerous age data and other mare had very age diversity of lunar mare basalt samples. limited age data, we took the mean of the data for each mare and we also included high and low age ranges for each mare in our results. After doing all of this, we mapped the data in a When the Moon was initially created it color-coded pictorial representation illustrating the relative ages of the 16 lunar mare that we was made completely of hot molten lava. As it found data. This helped us visualize the proximity of aged mare to each other. When we began to cool, lighter minerals like anorthosite Buzz Aldrin deploys a seismometer in the This seismometer records seismic waves generated by graphed the mare age data, we noticed that the age groups were concentrated into 4 age Sea of Tranquility (Source: NASA) Earthquakes (Source: Arizona State University) and plagioclase feldspar rose to the top and Simple Lunar Crater (Source: NASA) Impact Cratering (Source: D. Roddy, LPI) categories. actually floated on the magma as the outer Erosion Exploration sites should be selected that can fill in the gaps in diversity of lunar samples. crust cooled. Volcanism Mission plans for each human landing should include the collection and return of at least 100 kg The mantle is composed of heavier of rocks from diverse locations within the landing region (2007 Scientific Context for Exploration minerals like norite, olivine, and the of the Moon: Final Report). pyroxenes. These mafic rocks are rich in Because we learned that Lunar volcanism provides a window into the thermal and magnesium and ferric or iron. When the Moon The first footprints on the Moon will be there for a million Air, water, and ice erosion as well as plate movement years. There is no wind to blow them away (Source: NASA) change the Earth’s land features (Source: cosmicpair.com) Lunar rille (Source: NASA) Mauna Loa braided lava channel (Source: USGS) was relatively young, these minerals sank to compositional evolution of the Moon, we found that more samples of the youngest and oldest the bottom and crystallized slowly as the Moon mare basalts will help to address the question of how our solar system and our own planet was cooled. created and changed and give more information about how basaltic processes have evolved over time. We therefore charted the ages of the maria using as much of the available One of the goals of thee 2007 ScientifiScientificc Lunar Chronology radio-isotope and crater counting data as we could access. Context for Exploration of thehe Moon: Final Gerhard Neukum developed a method Report is to understand howw the Moon can for using radioisotope data from lunar rock Number of Name Age of Mare Low Range High Range Mean help us make analogies aboutout the evolution ooff Data Used samples to calibrate crater counting data. This Mare Anguis 0 Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown the Earth and other planets in our solar Mare Australe 1 3.1 - 3.9 b.y 3.1 b.y. 3.9 b.y. 3.5 b.y method is called the Neukum Curve. Mare Cognitum 1 3.3 - 3.7 b.y. 3.3 b.y. 3.7 b.y. 3.5 b.y. 1.7 b.y. , 2.5 b.y. , 3.1 b.y., 3.2 b.y. , 3.2 b.y., 3.2 b.y. , 3.3 b.y. , Mare Crisium 15 1.7 b.y. 4.0 b.y. 3.2 b.y system. Because there aren’t active 3.4 b.y., 3.4 b.y., 3.4 - 3.6 b.y. , 3.5 b.y. , 3.7 b.y. , 3.7 b.y., 3.8 - 3.9 b.y., 4.0 b.y. 3.3 b.y. , .4 b.y. , 3.4 b.y. , 3.4 b.y. , 3.4 b.y., 3.5 b.y. , 3.6 b.y. , Researchers like H. Hiesinger, C. Pieters, J. Mare Fecunditatis 9 3.3 b.y. 4.0 b.y. 3.5 b.y. 3.9 b.y. , 4.0 b.y volcanoes on the Moon anymore we believe Mare Frigorios 2 2.6 - 3.8 b.y. , 3.2 - 3.6 b.y 2.6 b.y 3.8 b.y. 3.3 b.y. Head III, and R. Jaumann use the Neukum Mare Humboldtianum 1 3.4 - 4.0 b.y. 3.4 b.y. 4.0 b.y. 3.6 b.y. Mare Humorum 1 3.0 - 3.8 b.y. 3.0 b.y. 3.8 b.y. 3.3 b.y. that the Moon’s interior is cool now. From this Mare Imbrium 5 2.0 - 3.6 b.y. , 3.3 b.y., 3.3 b.y. , 3.8 - 3.9 b.y., 3.9 b.y. 2.0 b.y. 3.9 b.y. 3.4 b.y. Curve to correlate crater frequencies of the Mare Ingenii 0 Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Mare Insularum 0 Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown observation we can draw conclusions that the Mare Marginis 1 3.5 - 3.9 b.y. 3.5 b.y. 3.9 b.y. 3.7 b.y. Apollo and Luna landing sites with the Mare Moscoviense 0 Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Mare Nectaris 4 3.9 b.y. 3.7 - 3.9 b.y., 3.9 - 4.6 b.y. , 4.1 b.y. 3.9 b.y. 4.1 b.y. 4.0 b.y. Earth is also cooling, but because we Mare Nubium 1 2.8 - 3.7 b.y. 2.8 b.y. 3.7 b.y. 3.2 b.y. radiometric ages of the lunar rock samples. Mare Orientale 2 3.2 - 3.9 b.y. , 3.7 - 3.9 b.y. 3.2 b.y. 3.9 b.y. 3.5 b.y. 2.4 - 3.8 b.y. , 3.7 b.y., 3.8 b.y., 3.8 b.y., 3.9 b.y. , 3.9 b.y. , Mare Serenitatis 10 2.4 b.y. 4.3 b.y. 3.8 b.y. 3.9 - 3.7 b.y., 4.0 b.y. , 4.1 b.y. , 4.3 b.y. experience plate movement, Earthquakes, and Mare Smythii 1 1.0 - 3.2 b.y. 1.0 b.y. 3.2 b.y. 2.0 b.y. This method can be applied to other areas of Mare Spumans 0 Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown 3.4 - 4.2 b.y. , 3.5 b.y., 3.6 b.y., 3.6 - 3.8 b.y., 3.6 - 3.9 b.y. , Mare Tranquillitatis 9 3.4 b.y. 4.2 b.y. 3.7 b.y. 3.6 - 3.9 b.y., 3.7 b.y., 3.8 b.y., 3.9 b.y. volcanoes we know that the Earth’s interior is Mare Undarum 0 Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown the Moon from which we do not have actual Mare Vaporum 0 Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown still very active. Oceanus Procellarum 5 3.1 - 3.3 b.y. , 3.1 - 3.3 b.y., 3.2 b.y. , 3.2 b.y., 3.2 b.y. 3.1 b.y. 3.3 b.y. 3.2 b.y. rock samples. (Source: H. Hiesinger et al., Ages of Mare basalts cover about 17% of the Mare Basalts on the Lunar Nearside) Key: Youngest Mare, mean age 2.0 b.y. Young Mare, mean age 3.2-3.4 b.y. Middle Age Mare, mean age 3.5-3.7 b.y. Oldest Mare, mean age 3.8-4.0 b.y. lunar surface and are visible from Earth as dark areas on the Moon. There are 23 mare on the Moon’s surface, 19 appear on the near side. Most mare basalts were formed during the late Imbrium Period (3.2-3.9 Ga). Methodology Conclusions Simple Craters were created when some In order to better understand the distribution of the oldest and youngest mare, a list of Tycho is about 100 kilometers wide. Using this type of projectile or impactor collided with the Schematic cross-section of a simple crater. D is the diameter and da and dt are the depths of the apparent and lunar exploration sites were identified that allow for the retrieval of different ages of lunar mare scale and what we know about robotic retrieval lunar surface. The impact created shock true crater, respectively. (Stoffler et al). basalt samples. This would involve extracting calibrated basalt mare ages from peer reviewed technologies, we hypothesized that the distance between waves that resulted in cracks or fissures in the 2 articles and determining the vicinity of the sites by hypothesizing the distance astronauts could exploration sites could be up to 300 kilometers.