Compositional mapping and the evolutionary history of Mare Tranquillitatis

This study signifies the compositional variability of Mare Tranquillitatis basalt and the Irregular Mare patches (IMPs) - the youngest volcanic feature on the Moon, using hyperspectral data from Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M-3) for the first time. Along with composition, the topographic and morphological mapping has been done to understand the possible evolutionary history of this mare. Total 22 spectral units has been identified based on Integrated Band Depth (IBD) parameter technique. Number of reflectance spectra were collected from the fresh craters of each spectral unit and quantitative mineralogical abundances estimated using band parameters like band centre, band strength and band area. The result shows abundances of olivine and pyroxene mixture bearing material in the mare basalt. The compositional map shows smaller spectral units in the western-low lying half and larger spatial distribution of spectral unit in the eastern half depicts probable large-scale volcanic eruption in the eastern part that may have flowed to longer distances from the Cauchy shield to the central mare. This study marks 61 new domes in the Cauchy shield area and also depicts possible formation and evolutionary history of the Mare Tranquillitatis.