ISSN:
1573-0794
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Physics
Notes:
Abstract The crater populations of 18 lunar light plains (Cayley plains) show a variation in relative ages by a factor of about 4 in crater frequency of regions in the surroundings of the Orientale resp. Imbrium basin, and by a factor of greater than 25 for more distant sites. Thus the idea of a Moonwide synchronism in the emplacement of the lunar light plains with the formation of the basins Imbrium or Orientale cannot be supported. Some light plains are younger than the youngest basin Orientale. Since these plains cannot have been emplaced by any other basin-forming event and local impact-derived origin can certainly be excluded, an endogenic (magmatic) origin is proposed for these plains. Age determination data (D L -values) by Soderblom and Lebofsky (1972) and Soderblom and Boyce (1972) are shown to be correlated with own cumulative crater frequency data (N) for surfaces younger than ≃ 3.8 × 109 years; we findD L × N 0.6, different from the originally proposed relationD L × N. For ages 〉 3.8 × 109 years, theD L data by those authors, especially their light plains data, are incompatible with our crater frequency data.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00562647
