Paper Published in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL)

A paper entitled “Rock Abundance on the Lunar Mare on Surfaces of Different Age: Implications for Regolith Evolution and Thickness” was published in GRL on February 11, led by Sashank Vanga (UAH/Space Science) with ST13’s Caleb Fassett and Michael Zanetti and collaborators Toshi Hirabashi (Auburn University), Brad Thomson & Cole Nypaver (University of Tennessee).

Using data from the Diviner instrument on Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the paper shows that, as expected, older maria have lower rock abundances on average, consistent with a thicker regolith on older surfaces inhibiting rock excavation. Additionally, excavation of rocks from within the regolith are required to explain the common presence of non-zero rock abundance on old terrains. These type of observations are helpful for thinking about how rock populations on the surface of the moon evolve, which will inform understanding of landing sites that may be visited in the next decade.

Read the paper at: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2021GL096710.

rock abundance on the lunar surfact

(a) Results for Diviner rock abundance (y axis) versus neighborhood crater frequency (x axis) on surfaces in 50-km radius moving neighborhoods. (b) Results for Diviner rock abundance (y axis) versus Neukum model age in billions of years (x axis). The mean rock abundance slowly declines with increasing crater frequency/age. Because craters accumulated faster before 3 Ga, the decline in rock abundance is most prominent on the oldest surfaces

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