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Thorium distribution on the lunar surface observed by Chang’E-2 gamma-ray spectrometer

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Abstract

The thorium distribution on the lunar surface is critical for understanding the lunar evolution. This work reports a global map of the thorium distribution on the lunar surface observed by Chang’E-2 gamma-ray spectrometer (GRS). Our work exhibits an interesting symmetrical structure of thorium distribution along the two sides of the belt of Th hot spots. Some potential positions of KREEP volcanism are suggested, which are the Fra Mauro region, Montes Carpatus, Aristarchus Plateau and the adjacent regions of Copernicus Crater. Based on the lunar map of thorium distribution, we draw some conclusions on two critical links of lunar evolution: (1) the thorium abundance within the lunar crust and mantle, in the last stage of Lunar Magma Ocean (LMO) crystallization, may have a positive correlation with the depth in the crust, reaches a peak when coming through the transitional zone between the crust and mantle, and decreases sharply toward the inside of the mantle; thus, the Th-enhanced materials originated from the lower crust and the layer between the crust and mantle, (2) in PKT, KREEP volcanism might be the primary mechanism of Th-elevated components to the lunar surface, whereas the Imbrium impact acted as a relatively minor role.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate “The Science and Application Center for Moon and Deepspace Exploration” for providing Chang’E-2 GRS data (http://moon.bao.ac.cn/). We also appreciate the pertinent comments suggested by the reviews. These comments have contributed much to improve the manuscript. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41372341, 61372153, 61202172), Wuhan Science and Technology Project (Grant No. 2015010101010025), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) (Grant No. CUG110410, CUG140410), the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KGZD-EW-603), Education Department of Hubei Province (Grant No. B2015460) and the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province, China (Grant No. 2014CFA052).

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  1. Hubei Subsurface Multi-scale Imaging Key Laboratory, Institute of Geophysics and Geomatics, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Xianmin Wang & Ke Wu

  2. School of Public Administration of CUG, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Xubing Zhang

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Wang, X., Zhang, X. & Wu, K. Thorium distribution on the lunar surface observed by Chang’E-2 gamma-ray spectrometer. Astrophys Space Sci 361, 234 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-016-2816-y

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