COMPOSITIONAL VARIABILITY OF THE SERENITATIS TRANQUILLITATIS REGION OF THE MOON FROM TELESCOPIC MULTISPECTRAL IMAGING AND SPECTROSCOPY

We present results from a combined CCD multispectral imaging and near-IR spectroscopic study of a region near the border between the Mare Serenitatis and Mare Tranquillitatis lunar impact basins. We have detected and spatially mapped variations in mare TiO2 abundance, in the degree of spectral maturity of impact craters and their ejecta blankets, and in the level of fresh highlands contamination within mare units. Techniques employed include color ratio images, image-oriented linear mixing models, and spectral band analyses. Specific findings include the detection of relatively fresh highlands materials in the craters Tacquet and Sulpicius Gallus and in the central peak and floor of the crater Plinius, the detection of low-TiO2 Serenitatis-like mare materials in a confined region of the ejecta from the crater Dawes, and the determination of immaturity rather than composition as the origin of the high albedo in the rectangular deposit surrounding Dawes. The combination of high spatial resolution imaging and high spectral resolution spectroscopy and the use of synthesizing techniques such as mixture modeling will provide valuable tools to optimize the scientific return from telescopic, Galileo, Clementine, and other future lunar data sets. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc