Rights statement: An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2020 American Geophysical Union. Head, J. W., & Wilson, L. (2020). Rethinking lunar mare basalt regolith formation: New concepts of lava flow protolith and evolution of regolith thickness and internal structure.. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2020GL088334. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL088334. To view the published open abstract, go to http://dx.doi.org and enter the DOI.
Accepted author manuscript, 0.99 MB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Rethinking Lunar Mare Basalt Regolith Formation
T2 - New Concepts of Lava Flow Protolith and Evolution of Regolith Thickness and Internal Structure
AU - Head, J.W.
AU - Wilson, L.
N1 - An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2020 American Geophysical Union. Head, J. W., & Wilson, L. (2020). Rethinking lunar mare basalt regolith formation: New concepts of lava flow protolith and evolution of regolith thickness and internal structure.. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2020GL088334. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL088334. To view the published open abstract, go to http://dx.doi.org and enter the DOI.
PY - 2020/10/28
Y1 - 2020/10/28
N2 - Lunar mare regolith is traditionally thought to have formed by impact bombardment of newly emplaced coherent solidified basaltic lava. We use new models for initial emplacement of basalt magma to predict and map out thicknesses, surface topographies and internal structures of the fresh lava flows, and pyroclastic deposits that form the lunar mare regolith parent rock, or protolith. The range of basaltic eruption types produce widely varying initial conditions for regolith protolith, including (1) autoregolith, a fragmental meter-thick surface deposit that forms upon eruption and mimics impact-generated regolith in physical properties, (2) lava flows with significant near-surface vesicularity and macroporosity, (3) magmatic foams, and (4) dense, vesicle-poor flows. Each protolith has important implications for the subsequent growth, maturation, and regional variability of regolith deposits, suggesting wide spatial variations in the properties and thickness of regolith of similar age. Regolith may thus provide key insights into mare basalt protolith and its mode of emplacement.
AB - Lunar mare regolith is traditionally thought to have formed by impact bombardment of newly emplaced coherent solidified basaltic lava. We use new models for initial emplacement of basalt magma to predict and map out thicknesses, surface topographies and internal structures of the fresh lava flows, and pyroclastic deposits that form the lunar mare regolith parent rock, or protolith. The range of basaltic eruption types produce widely varying initial conditions for regolith protolith, including (1) autoregolith, a fragmental meter-thick surface deposit that forms upon eruption and mimics impact-generated regolith in physical properties, (2) lava flows with significant near-surface vesicularity and macroporosity, (3) magmatic foams, and (4) dense, vesicle-poor flows. Each protolith has important implications for the subsequent growth, maturation, and regional variability of regolith deposits, suggesting wide spatial variations in the properties and thickness of regolith of similar age. Regolith may thus provide key insights into mare basalt protolith and its mode of emplacement.
KW - autoregolith
KW - lunar
KW - mare basalt
KW - protolith
KW - pyroclastic
KW - regolith
KW - Deposits
KW - Moon
KW - Basaltic eruptions
KW - Initial conditions
KW - Internal structure
KW - Macro-porosity
KW - Pyroclastic deposits
KW - Regional variability
KW - Spatial variations
KW - Surface deposits
KW - Basalt
KW - basalt
KW - lava flow
KW - physical property
KW - pyroclastic deposit
KW - volcanic eruption
U2 - 10.1029/2020GL088334
DO - 10.1029/2020GL088334
M3 - Journal article
VL - 47
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
SN - 0094-8276
IS - 20
M1 - e2020GL088334
ER -