Deep-seated thrust faults bound the Mare Crisium lunar mascon

Byrne, P. K.; Klimczak, C.; McGovern, P. J.; Mazarico, E.; James, P. B.; Neumann, Gregory A.; Zuber, M. T.; Solomon, Sean C.

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2015.06.022

Cited by 41 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…The center of the Crisium basin is characterized by unusually thin crust (Wieczorek et al, ; see also Miljković et al, ), substantial mare basalt infill (Head et al, ), deeply penetrating thrust faults beneath surface contractional features (Byrne et al, ), and no evident extensional features (Solomon & Head, ). Possible Serenitatis ejecta superposed on the Crisium rim and the lack of obvious Crisium ejecta near Serenitatis suggest a pre‐Serenitatis and likely Nectarian age for Crisium (Wilhelms, ).…”

Section: Results: Relative Ages Of Lunar Terranes and Major Impact Bamentioning

confidence: 99%

Reexamination of Early Lunar Chronology With GRAIL Data: Terranes, Basins, and Impact Fluxes

et al. 2018

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Flooding of the lunar surface by ancient mare basalts has rendered uncertain the ages of lunar geochemical terranes and several impact basins. Here we combine craters having recognizable surface expressions with craters identified only by their gravitational signatures in Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory data to reassess the chronological sequence of lunar impact basins and the ages of major lunar geochemical terranes. Our results indicate that although volcanically flooded regions are deficient in craters with diameters greater than 20 km by more than 50% relative to unflooded regions, craters with diameters greater than 90 km can be readily recognized either by topography or by gravity anomaly. On the basis of the areal density of craters with diameters greater than 90 km we conclude that (1) the Serenitatis basin could be as young as the Imbrium basin; (2) the areal density of craters within the Procellarum KREEP Terrane is significantly lower than that for the South Pole‐Aitken basin and the Feldspathic Highlands Terrane; (3) if the youngest age of final crystallization of the lunar magma ocean is adopted as a lower bound on the age of the Procellarum KREEP Terrane, a minimum age of approximately 4.3 Ga is inferred for ~40% of lunar impact basins, including South Pole‐Aitken; and (4) the flux of impactors capable of forming craters with diameters of at least 90 km decreased substantially through the Nectarian and Imbrian periods.

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Section: Results: Relative Ages Of Lunar Terranes and Major Impact Bamentioning

confidence: 99%

Reexamination of Early Lunar Chronology With GRAIL Data: Terranes, Basins, and Impact Fluxes

et al. 2018

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“…That the lunar thrust faults interpreted to have been formed by global contraction are found only in the megaregolith [ Williams et al , , ] may indicate a partitioning of global contraction‐induced strain, with the majority of the lithosphere sufficiently strong to resist frictional sliding and support a radius decrease in a purely elastic manner, and only the much weaker near‐surface regolith materials allowing for global contraction‐induced fault slip. In addition, the much larger thrust fault‐related landforms in mare‐filled impact basins [e.g., Yue et al , ] on the Moon's nearside are underlain by structures that penetrate the lunar lithosphere to depths of 20 km and that host fault displacements in excess of 1 km [ Byrne et al , ]. The role that these large structures play for global contraction and how they respond to the Moon's modern‐day stress field has been ignored [e.g., Watters et al , ], although their kinematics are reported not to be inconsistent with strain accumulation from global contraction [ Byrne et al , ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, the much larger thrust fault‐related landforms in mare‐filled impact basins [e.g., Yue et al , ] on the Moon's nearside are underlain by structures that penetrate the lunar lithosphere to depths of 20 km and that host fault displacements in excess of 1 km [ Byrne et al , ]. The role that these large structures play for global contraction and how they respond to the Moon's modern‐day stress field has been ignored [e.g., Watters et al , ], although their kinematics are reported not to be inconsistent with strain accumulation from global contraction [ Byrne et al , ]. It may be then that at least some of the strain accommodated by these lithospheric‐scale structures might be related to global contraction but is not included in currently published radius change estimates.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on crosscutting relationships with small craters, the population of small landforms attributed to global contraction was inferred to be younger than 1 Ga [ Watters et al , ], whereas thermal history models require that contraction began at or before ~3.6 Ga [e.g., Laneuville et al , ; Zhang et al , ]. The role of preservation of the surface expressions of the small thrust faults over geologic time, as well as a potential contribution to global contraction of the larger thrust faults deforming the lunar mare units [ Byrne et al , ], remain largely unexplored. Both of these factors, however, are key for a better understanding of the timing and amount of radial changes accommodated by the thrust faults on the Moon.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Limits on the brittle strength of planetary lithospheres undergoing global contraction

Klimczak

2015

JGR Planets

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The degree and depth of fracturing of the lithospheres of Mars, Mercury, and the Moon remain poorly known. It is these two properties, however, that govern the mechanical behavior of a planetary lithosphere. Considering the lithosphere as a cohesive rock mass that consists of small and large blocky, interlocked rock fragments, as opposed to an intact body or a body entirely lacking cohesion, provides insight into the effect of lithospheric fracturing on tectonic processes on these bodies. Characterization of the near‐surface lithospheric brittle strength that incorporates the degree of fracturing is necessary for a realistic assessment of the lithospheric response to global contraction resulting from interior secular cooling. Such an assessment shows that all of these bodies could have accommodated substantial amounts of global contraction prior to the formation of thrust fault‐related landforms. In fact, their lithospheres were sufficiently strong so as to experience changes in radius of as much as 2.2 ± 0.4 km (Mars), 2.1 ± 0.4 km (Mercury), and 1.4 ± 0.3 km (the Moon) prior to the onset of widespread thrust faulting. These values imply that the process of global contraction begins before any evidence of it is established in the geologic record, requiring an earlier onset, and for Mars and Mercury a faster initial strain rate, of global contraction than previously thought. Such results add a heretofore unrecognized component of planetary radial decrease with implications for timing and strain rate to studies of global contraction on Mars, Mercury, and the Moon, in particular, and to planetary bodies, in general.

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“…Alternatively, the inner ring might be an analog of structures in the Crisium basin, which are interpreted as the surface expression of thrust faults bounding the uplifted mantle beneath the basin center (Byrne et al, 2015). The inner depression approximately corresponds with the central positive Bouguer anomaly (Neumann et al, 2015b;Zuber et al, 2016), centered at °N °E, r ~ km.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%