Ages and stratigraphy of mare basalts in Oceanus Procellarum, Mare Nubium, Mare Cognitum, and Mare Insularum

Abstract

Accurate estimates of mare basalt ages are necessary to place constraints on the duration and the flux of lunar volcanism as well as on the petrogenesis of lunar mare basalts and their relationship to the thermal evolution of the Moon. We performed new crater size‐frequency distribution measurements in order to investigate the stratigraphy of mare basalts in Oceanus Procellarum and related regions such as Mare Nubium, Mare Cognitum, and Mare Insularum. We used high‐resolution Clementine color data to define 86 spectrally homogeneous units within these basins, which were then dated with crater counts on Lunar Orbiter IV images. Our crater size‐frequency distribution measurements define mineralogical and spectral surface units and offer significant improvements in accuracy over previous analyses. Our data show that volcanism in the investigated region was active over a long period of time from ∼3.93 to 1.2 b.y., a total of ∼2.7 b.y. Volumetrically, most of the basalts erupted in the Late Imbrian Period between ∼3.3 and 3.7 b.y., and we see evidence that numerous units have been resurfaced. During the Eratosthenian Period, significantly less basalt was erupted. Depending on the absolute model ages that one can assign to the lunar chronostratigraphic systems, five units might be of Copernican age. Younger basalts are generally exposed in the center of the investigated area, that is, closer to the volcanic centers of the Aristarchus Plateau and Marius Hills. Older basalts occur preferentially along the northwestern margin of Oceanus Procellarum and in the southeastern regions of the studied area, i.e., in Mare Cognitum and Mare Nubium. Combining the new data with our previously measured ages for basalts in Mare Imbrium, Serenitatis, Tranquillitatis, Humorum, Australe, and Humboldtianum, we find that the period of active volcanism on the Moon lasted ∼2.8 b.y., from ∼4 b.y. to ∼1.2 b.y. On the basis of the basalts dated so far, which do not yet include the potentially young basalts of Mare Smythii e.g.,all investigated basins but probably also is the location of some of the youngest basalts on the lunar surface.