Compositional characteristics and remote sensing of regional geology at the Chang’E-5 landing site
Abstract
<p indent="0mm">Chang’E-5 (CE-5) collected <sc>1.731 kg</sc> of lunar regolith materials in the northern Oceanus Procellarum. These unique samples complement the Apollo and Luna collections of lunar materials for a better understanding of the petrogenesis and evolution of young mare basalts. This work aims to obtain new knowledge on young mare basalt evolution from spectral and mineralogical perspectives, using the latest multi-source high-resolution orbital datasets in combination with CE-5 sample analysis. The CE-5 landing site is mainly composed of Imbrian-aged basalts with low to very low Ti compositions and Eratosthenian-aged intermediate-Ti basalts. The spectral characteristics of young mare basalts indicate a stronger 1-μm absorption feature and a relatively weak 2-μm absorption, which seem to indicate stronger olivine signatures, possibly suggesting the presence of abundant olivine. However, the returned CE-5 samples revealed lower proportions in olivine abundance than that of Kaguya MI mineral maps. We infer that olivine-rich spectral features in remote sensing datasets are possibly contributed by ferropyroxene, Fe-rich glass, space weathering effects, and fayalite. A synthesis of CE-5 sample analyses and remote geological studies of CE-5 landing site indicates that the Fe-rich young mare basalts may be sourced from the extensive fractional crystallization of late-stage basalt magma from a shallow, clinopyroxene-rich upper mantle cumulate.</p>
