Submitted on July 17, 2008
Accepted on September 30, 2008
Long-Lived Volcanism on the Lunar Farside Revealed by SELENE Terrain Camera
Junichi Haruyama 1*, Makiko Ohtake 1, Tsuneo Matsunaga 2, Tomokatsu Morota 1, Chikatoshi Honda 1, Yasuhiro Yokota 1, Masanao Abe 1, Yoshiko Ogawa 2, Hideaki Miyamoto 3, Akira Iwasaki 4, Carle M. Pieters 5, Noriaki Asada 6, Hirohide Demura 6, Naru Hirata 6, Junya Terazono 6, Sho Sasaki 7, Kazuto Saiki 8, Atsushi Yamaji 9, Masaya Torii 10, Jean-Luc Josset 11
1 Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 3-1-1 Yoshino-dai, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229-8515, Japan.
2 Center for Global Environmental Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan.
3 University Museum, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
4 Department of Aerospace and Astronautics, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
5 Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
6 The University of Aizu, Ikki-machi, Aizu-wakamatsu, Fukushima 965-8580, Japan.
7 RISE Project Office, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-12 Hoshigaoka, Mizusawa, Oshu 023-0861, Japan.
8 Department of Earth and Space Science, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, 1-1 Machikaneyama, Toyonaka 560-0043, Osaka, Japan.
9 Division of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.
10 Fujitsu Ltd. Chiba 261-8588, Japan.
11 Space Exploration Institute CP 774, CH-2002 Neuchatel, Switzerland.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Junichi Haruyama , E-mail: Haruyama.junichi{at}jaxa.jp
We determined model ages of mare deposits on the lunar farside based on the crater frequency distributions in 10-m-resolution images obtained by the Terrain Camera on SELENE (KAGUYA). Most mare volcanism that formed mare deposits on the lunar farside ceased at ~3.0 Ga, suggesting that mare volcanism on the Moon significantly reduced globally during this period. However, several mare deposits at various locations on the lunar farside also show a much younger age, clustering at ~2.5 Ga. These young ages indicate that mare volcanism on the lunar farside lasted longer than previously considered and may have occurred episodically.
