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Compositional and morphological analysis of Gassendi crater

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Abstract

Gassendi impact crater is located on the western side of the visible lunar hemisphere just north of Mare Humorum. It has a diameter of 110 km, and it is a Floor Fractured Crater (FFC) belonging to Class-3 type that exhibits a wide annular depression or moat. Is Gassendi crater formed due to igneous intrusion or viscous relaxation? To investigate this, the analysis explores the compositional and morphological dimensions of the crater. The area studied has been found to contain various minerals such as LCP (Low Calcium Pyroxene), HCP (High Calcium Pyroxene), olivine, plagioclase, and mixtures of pyroxene and plagioclase. To differentiate between similar spectral profiles, Integrated Band Depth map (IBD) and Band Depth Parameter (BD) maps are generated using the M3 data. Features such as central peak complex, isolated mound, fractures, rimae, wall terraces, wall slumps, etc., have been identified and marked in the morphological map. We have also studied the morphometrical aspects of all the morphological features. Another impact crater just on the northern rim of Gassendi, Gassendi A crater shows the presence of LCP and olivine mineral along with extensive slumping, melt pool, and distorted northern rim. We have mapped the three mare regions towards the south of the crater floor and estimated their ages by using the CSFD technique. The present appearance of the Gassendi crater is mostly due to past volcanic activities rather than the result of the impact event.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge M3 (Level-2 data) and LROC team for providing high resolution data in the public domain and supplying the data through PDS Geoscience Node. The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions, which greatly enhanced this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, M. G. Science Institute, Ahmedabad, 380 009, India

    Arpita N Purohit, Shreekumari M Patel, Ashka D Thaker & Paras M Solanki

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  1. Arpita N Purohit
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  2. Shreekumari M Patel
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  3. Ashka D Thaker
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  4. Paras M Solanki
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Contributions

Arpita N Purohit: Conceptualization, resources, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, writing-original draft, writing-review and editing, visualization. Shreekumari M Patel: Methodology, formal analysis, investigation, validation, writing-review and editing, project administration. Ashka D Thaker: Methodology, investigation, writing-review and editing and Paras M Solanki: Supervision.

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Correspondence to Arpita N Purohit.

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Communicated by N V Chalapathi Rao

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Purohit, A.N., Patel, S.M., Thaker, A.D. et al. Compositional and morphological analysis of Gassendi crater. J Earth Syst Sci 130, 57 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-021-01567-5

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