顾及月表铁元素含量的次生撞击坑识别

在对月表地质单元定年时,由于月球岩石、土壤和岩心样品数量有限,能够利用这些样品做同位素定年的地质单元范围很小,因此更大范围的月球表面的绝对年龄需要采用撞击坑尺寸频率定年法(crater sizefrequency distribution, CSFD)测定。然而月球表面次生撞击坑的存在会导致CSFD得到的定年结果出现偏差,故在标注撞击坑时有必要对次生撞击坑予以剔除,以便对行星表面的地质单元做较为准确的定年。提出一种顾及月表铁元素含量的次生撞击坑识别方法。使用波段比值法获取月表铁元素含量信息,以次生撞击坑内铁元素含量更接近月壤铁元素含量为假设前提,以撞击坑内与月壤的铁元素含量差值为判据分离主撞击坑和次生撞击坑。以日本月亮女神多光谱成像仪影像为实验数据,验证所提方法的有效性和稳健性。实验结果表明,在依据铁元素含量剔除次生撞击坑后的定年结果与已知定年结果之差小于0.1 Ga,具有较好的一致性;与其他次生撞击坑剔除方法相比,依据月表铁元素信息剔除次生撞击坑的结果更可靠。

Identification of Secondary Craters Based on Distribution of Iron Element on Lunar Surface

  Objectives  To determine the geologic age of the lunar surface is the foundation of the research on the formation and evolution of the Moon, and also the foundation of the inversion process of lunar geological events. Lack of lunar rock and soil samples limits the range of geological units that can be used for isotopic dating. Therefore, the dating using crater size-frequency distribution (CSFD) is employed to obtain the geologic ages of broader regions on the lunar surface. However, the presence of secondary craters will lead to a deviation in geologic age which is obtained by CSFD method. Thus, secondary craters should be eliminated to get a more accurate geologic age.  Methods  This paper presents a method to identify secondary craters based on the distribution of iron element on lunar surface. First, the method assumes that the iron content in secondary craters is close to that in lunar regolith. Then, band ratio method is utilized to acquire the iron content. Finally, secondary craters are distinguished from primary ones in terms of the difference of iron content between craters and lunar regolith.  Results  The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method are tested by using the multispectral data obtained by multi-band imager of the Japanese Selene Mission. The experimental results show that the geologic age deviation compared with the known isotopic dated ones is less than 0.1 Ga, which shows good consistency.  Conclusions  Compared with other secondary craters identification methods, the proposed method is proven to be more effective and robust.