Chronology, Local Stratigraphy, and Foreign Ejecta Materials at the Chang'e‐6 Landing Site: Constraints on the Provenance of Samples Returned From the Moon's Farside
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: China's Chang'e‐6 (CE‐6) mission has returned the first‐ever lunar farside samples from a mare plain on the southern Apollo basin floor. The crater statistics of the CE‐6 mare unit and the provenance of the samples are crucial in interpreting the CE‐6 sample analysis results and re‐calibrating the crater chronology function. Here, we conduct a thorough survey of the formation sequence and main source craters of ejecta materials at the sampling area. Our results show that the sampling mare unit has a model age of ∼2.8 Ga and the CE‐6 scooped and drilled samples mainly come from the proximal ejecta of nearby small craters and the local regolith. The total abundance of foreign (non‐mare) materials, primarily from Chaffee S and Vavilov craters, is ∼9.3%. The Chaffee S ejecta may contain lunar upper mantle materials previously excavated by the South Pole‐Aitken impact, which will shed light on the materials of the Moon's interior.
Source: Geophysical Research Letters
DOI: 10.1029/2024gl111311
Authors: Luyuan Xu, Le Qiao, Minggang Xie, Yiran Wang, Meng‐Hua Zhu, Jianguo Yan
Institutions: Macau University of Science and Technology, Wuhan University, State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying Mapping and Remote Sensing, State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Shandong University, Guilin University of Technology, Southern University of Science and Technology
Language: English
Topic: Astro and Planetary Science
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,900
OpenAlex ID: W4405280027