diviner lunar radiometer observations of cold traps in the moon s south polar region diviner lunar radiometer experiment surface temperature maps reveal the existence of widespread surface and near surface cryogenic regions that extend beyond the boundaries of persistent shadow the lunar crater observation and sensing satellite lcross struck one of the coldest of these regions where subsurface temperatures are estimated to be 38 kelvin large areas of the lunar polar regions are currently cold enough to cold trap water ice as well as a range of both more volatile and less volatile species the diverse mixture of water and high volatility compounds detected in the lcross ejecta plume is strong evidence for the impact delivery and cold trapping of volatiles derived from primitive outer solar system bodies

superimposition of a thrust transfer fault system on a large impact structure implications for ni cu pge exploration at sudbury a 2 0 km wide metamorphic aureole has been mapped beneath the northern margin of the 2 5 km thick sudbury igneous complex of the 1 85 ga sudbury impact structure the aureole is difficult to observe in the field because it overprints archean granitoids and high grade polydeformed gneisses which do not yield diagnostic thermal minerals at the macroscopic scale however detailed petrography and electron microscopy reveal four zones albite epidote 1 000 m wide hornblende 900 m and pyroxene 200 m hornfels facies and an innermost zone of partial melting 25 m using metamorphic isograds as markers we have revealed previously undetected thrust faults between the sudbury igneous complex and the archean footwall we demonstrate that in places all or part of the aureole has been overthrust and obscured at surface thrust units are segmented by northwest trending strike slip faults which together form thrust transfer fault systems that were active after the impact melt sheet had solidified this post impact deformation is attributed to late penokean 1 85 ga and possibly grenvillian 1 ga compression overthrusting of the footwall by the sudbury igneous complex may conceal sublayer footwall breccia and embayment units that are traditionally the hosts of massive ni cu sulfides and related platinum group element deposits an example is provided by the ministic offset dike located in the west of the sudbury basin which as an intrusion derived from the impact melt is atypical in not being associated with an exposed embayment structure

constraints on central uplift structure from the manicouagan impact crater recent drilling operations at the 90 km diameter late triassic manicouagan impact crater of quebec canada have provided new insight into the internal structure of a complex craters central region previous work had indicated that the impact event generated a 55 km diameter sheet of molten rock of relatively consistent originally 400 m thickness floran et al 1978 the drilling data reveals melt sheet thicknesses of up to 1500 m with kilometer scale lateral and substantial vertical variations in the geometry of the crater floor beneath the melt sheet the thickest melt section occurs in a 1500 m deep central trough encircled by a horseshoe shaped uplift of precambrian basement the uplift constitutes a modified central peak structure at least part of which breached the melt sheet mineralogical and compositional segregation differentiation of the thicker melt sheet section coupled with a lack of fractionation in the thinner units shows that the footwall geometry and associated trough structure were in place prior to melt sheet solidification marked lateral changes in sub melt sheet basement relief support the existence of a castellated footwall that was created by high angle impact related offsets of 100s to 1000s of meters this indicates that deformation during the modification stage of the cratering process was primarily facilitated by large displacement fault systems this work suggests that manicouagan is a central peak basin with rings which does not appear to fit with current complex crater classification schemes

a paleomagnetic and rock magnetic study of the manicouagan impact structure implications for crater formation and geodynamo effects we report rock magnetic and paleomagnetic data from the similar to 214ma manicouagan canada impact crater based on 25 widely distributed sites of impact melt and basement rocks collected at the surface as well as from boreholes drilled to depths 1 5km titanomagnetite and titanohematite carry the magnetic remanence in impact melts above 320m elevation and in most basement rocks impact melts below 320m contain solely titanomagnetite magnetic susceptibility and saturation magnetization proxies for titanomagnetite concentration increase more than tenfold toward the base of the thickest impact melt that underwent fractional crystallization the titanomagnetite enriched zone partially contributes to a 2000nt magnetic anomaly in the crater s center stepwise demagnetization reveals a single normal polarity magnetization component in all samples regardless of the magnetic phases present coeval lock in remanence times for titanomagnetite and titanohematite indicate that the titanohematite formed 570 degrees c during oxi exsolution the average paleomagnetic direction and intensity coincide well with 214ma reference values we find no evidence for an aberration of the geomagnetic field over the several thousands of years it took to cool a 481m thick portion of the impact melt body hence the energy released by the manicouagan impact that created one of the 10 largest known craters on earth provoked no measurable disturbance of the geodynamo magnetic anisotropy of clast free impact melts define magnetic lineation directions that are in places radially oriented with respect to the crater s center centrifugal flow of the melt within the evolving transient crater probably generated the fabric

lithoprobe line 55 integration of out of plane seismic results with surface structure metamorphism and geochronology and the tectonic evolution of the eastern grenville province lithoprobe line 55 in the grenville province of eastern quebec provides unusually good control on the three dimensional 3 d geometry and structural relationships among the major lithological units there archean basement underlies the exposed proterozoic rocks along the entire seismic line and there is a lateral ramp in this basement immediately behind a lobate stack of thrust slices of high pressure metamorphic rocks comprising the manicouagan imbricate zone miz integration of the 3 d geometry with p t and geochronological data allows derivation of a tectonic model for the region the miz was buried to depths 60 km at 1050 ma preservation of its high pressure assemblages and the absence of metamorphism at 990 ma which is characteristic of lower pressure metamorphic rocks that tectonically overlie them indicates the miz rocks were rapidly unroofed early in the tectonic history there were two discrete pulses of crustal thickening during the grenvillian orogeny in this region the first inv

chicxulub impactites geochemical clues to the precursor rocks the 65 ma chicxulub impact structure mexico with a diameter of 180 km is the focus of geoscientific research because of its link to the mass extinction event at the cretaceous tertiary k t boundary chicxulub now buried beneath thick post impact sediments is probably one of the best preserved terrestrial impact structures known because of its inaccessibility only limited samples on the impact lithologies from a few drill cores are available we report major element and sr nd o and c isotopic data for chicxulub impact melt lithologies and basement clasts in impact breccias of drill cores c 1 and y 6 and for melt particles in the chicxulub ejecta horizon at the k t boundary in beloc haiti the melt lithologies with sio2 ranging from 58 to 63 wt show significant variations in the content of al ca and the alkalies in the melt matrix samples 13c of the calcite is about 3 o the 18o values for the siliceous melt matrices of y 6 samples range from 9 9 to 12 4 o melt lithologies and the black haitian glass have rather uniform 87sr 86sr ratios 0 7079 to 0 7094 only one lithic fragment displays 87sr 86sr of 0 7141 the sr model ages tsrur for most lithologies range from 830 to 1833 ma unrealistic negative model ages point to an open rb sr system with loss of rb in a hydrothermal process the 143nd 144nd ratios for all samples except one basement clast with 143nd 144nd of 0 5121 cluster at 0 5123 to 0 5124 in an nd sr diagram impactites plot in a field delimited by nd of 2 to 6 and sr of 55 to 69 this field is not defined by the basement lithologies described to occur as lithic clasts in impact breccias and cretaceous sediments at least one additional intermediate to mafic precursor component is required to explain the data

nd isotope mapping of grenvillian crustal terranes in the vicinity of the manicouagan impact structure abstract over 70 new nd isotope analyses are presented for the manicouagan area of the grenville province to estimate the crustal age of target rocks involved in the 214 ma manicouagan impact structure and to reconstruct the precambrian geological evolution of this crustal segment the rocks fall into two main groups samples from the archean aged gagnon terrane to the north and west of the impact give t dm ages averaging 2 70 ga samples from the manicouagan imbricate zone miz and other allochthonous lithotectonic domains to the south of the impact yield paleoproterozoic t dm ages averaging 2 01 ga for the miz and 1 86 ga for the southern domains these paleoproterozoic terranes are correlated with makkovik age crust in labrador that was heavily reworked by labradorian magmatism that increased in intensity southwards the target rocks involved in the impact event would have consisted almost entirely of the miz which formed a layer several kilometres thick overlying archean crust at depth

petrology and u pb geochronology of mafic high pressure metamorphic coronites from the tshenukutish domain eastern grenville province abstract a suite of mafic and ultramafic rocks from the tshenukutish domain eastern grenville province have been the subject of a detailed petrographic and geochemical study combined with u pb geochronology the tshenukutish domain is the highest tectonic level in the recently discovered eclogite bearing manicouagan imbricate zone the mafic and ultramafic rocks are characteristic of two of the lithotectonic segments in the domain the lac espadon segment and the baie du nord segment in the lac espadon segment cumulate textures and geochemical characteristics suggest that the units represent a layered mafic and ultramafic complex and an unrelated apatite rich fe ti mafic pegmatite nelsonite body in contrast the samples from the baie du nord segment represent fairly homogeneous fe ti gabbros and anorthosites the samples studied show abundant petrographic evidence for high pressure metamorphism for instance the widespread development of garnet clinopyroxene and kyanite bearing metamorphic assemblages estimates of the conditions of high pressure metamorphism in previous studies and melting textures in deformed and hydrated gabbro margins are in the range 750 900 c and 1600 1800 mpa the gabbroic end members from both segments suggest within plate tholeiite petrotectonic signatures ree patterns of gabbros and cumulates in both segments suggest fractionation from a tholeiitic source cumulate textures fractionation and inherited zircons suggest high crustal level emplacement of the magmatic protoliths in the tshenukutish domain in the lac espadon segment u pb ages of igneous zircon and baddeleyite give an age range of 1643 1629 ma for the emplacement of the layered complex the nelsonite in the les gives a poorly constrained igneous zircon age of 1596 126 99 ma in the baie du nord segment baddeleyite gives an age of 1170 5 ma for emplacement of the fe ti gabbros this is the youngest intrusion in the td and thus gives a maximum limit for the onset of grenvillian metamorphism ages of high p metamorphism are further constrained by zircon formed during partial melting of deformed and hydrated fe ti gabbro margins 1046 3 ma overgrowth of igneous zircon 1042 22 28 ma in the nelsonite saccharoidal zircon replacing baddeleyite 1030 10 7 ma and 1030 12 ma and new growth of equant zircon 1012 12 ma from the undeformed interior of the gabbros these ages indicate that the high p metamorphism of the tshenukutish domain was late grenvillian ottawan retrogression to amphibolite facies is constrained by the ages of titanite 1006 997 ma in deformed gabbro margins rutile ages range between 960 and 929 ma and are interpreted as cooling ages the difference between the ages of titanite and rutile suggest slow cooling of the tshenukutish domain after initial high pressure and temperature metamorphism and exhumation

geochemical relationships in the sudbury igneous complex origin of the main mass and offset dikes petrological models relating the different rock types constituting the 1 85 ga sudbury igneous complex are constrained with extensive new geochemical data we show that the main mass felsic norite transition zone quartz gabbro and granophyre have similar ratios of the highly incompatible trace elements e g la sm 4 5 7 la nb 2 8 4 2 th zr 0 04 0 05 and that these variations are consistent with the crystallization and differentiation of magma types largely 80 derived from the upper crust with a smaller contribution from a mantle source although there is presently no conclusive proof that magma was generated in situ as a melt sheet produced by meteorite impact we find no principal reason why this model should be rejected however we propose that a small contribution of mantle derived picritic magma is required to explain the abundant ni cu and platinum group elements pge in the sudbury deposits as well as the compositions of the ultramafic inclusions mgo 12 36 wt fo sub 68 87 olivines with 450 3 700 ppm ni and abundant chrome rich spinel and the magnesian composition of the mafic norite 8 14 wt mgo and the sublayer 6 12 wt mgo we believe that the main mass of the sudbury complex achieved its present composition through incorporation of up to 20 percent mantle derived picritic magma emplaced along crustal fractures produced by the impact event these picritic magmas entered the melt sheet as a dense plume vigorously mixing with it and due to the marked compositional shift the mixed magma formed magmatic sulfides which sank through the magma column depleting the melt in ni cu and pge since both the felsic norite and granophyre have indistinguishable ratios of the incompatible trace elements we see no requirement to derive these units of rock by the crystallization of magmas derived from different sources rather the compositional difference between the felsic norite and granophyre is attributed to the in situ differentiation of the magma we show that the main mass has many compositional traits similar to those of most of the offset dike quartz diorites e g the parkin offset dike la sm 6 3 la nb 4 5 th zr 0 05 and of embayment related leucocratic norites from the whistle mine la sm 6 2 la nb 5 0 th zr 0 02 these rocks have compositions intermediate between the felsic norite and the granophyre and therefore crystallized from the same magma type arguably the unmineralized quartz diorites provide the best possible estimate of the original magma from which the sudbury complex crystallized in detail there are subtle variations in composition within and between offset dikes with the largest difference being between the north and south range offsets the north range offset dikes cut archean granitoids and gneisses and have elevated sr la yb la sm and gd yb and low tio 2 whereas the south range dikes cut early proterozoic sediments mafic volcanics and intrusions and have low sr la yb gd yb la sm and high tio 2 these differences may be caused by the assimilation of different country rocks during emplacement of the dike a strongly mineralized offset dike at the creighton mine has geochemical variations that are different when compared to the main mass and in the case of creighton are more similar to the local mineralized sublayer these data suggest that mineralized and barren quartz diorites have different geochemical compositions and that these traits may be of value in mineral exploration

lunar surface rock abundance and regolith fines temperatures derived from lro diviner radiometer data 1 surface temperatures derived from thermal infrared measurements provide a means of understanding the physical properties of the lunar surface the contrasting thermophysical properties between rocks and regolith fines cause multiple temperatures to be present within the field of view of nighttime multispectral data returned from the lunar reconnaissance orbiter lro diviner radiometer between 60 n s latitudes regolith temperatures are influenced by the presence of rocks in addition to factors such as the thermophysical properties of the regolith fines latitude and local slopes and radiative heating from adjacent crater walls preliminary comparisons of derived rock concentrations with lro camera images show both qualitative and quantitative agreement although comparisons of derived rock concentrations with circular polarization ratio radar data sets display general similarities there are clear differences between the two data sets in the relative magnitude and areal extent of rocky signatures several surface units can be distinguished based on their regolith temperature and rock concentration values and distributions including maria and highlands surfaces rocky impact craters rilles and wrinkle ridges dark mantled deposits and isolated cold surfaces rock concentrations are correlated with crater age and rocks are only preserved on the youngest surfaces or where steep slopes occur and mass wasting prevents mantling with fines the presence of rocky surfaces excavated by young impacts allows for the estimation of minimum regolith thickness from the size of the impact the derived rock concentrations confirm the presence of thicker regolith cover in the highlands and in locations of radar dark haloes

the effect of rayleigh taylor instabilities on the thickness of undifferentiated crust on kuiper belt objects abstract previous calculations of the internal structure and thermal evolution of kuiper belt objects kbos by desch et al desch s j cook j c doggett t c porter s b 2009 icarus 202 694 714 have predicted that kbos should only partially differentiate with rock and ice separating into a rocky core and icy mantle below an undifferentiated crust of ice and rock this crust is thermally insulating and enhances the ability of subsurface liquid to persist within kbos a dense rock ice layer resting on an icy mantle is gravitationally unstable and prone to rayleigh taylor rt instabilities and may potentially overturn here we calculate the ability of rt instabilities to act in kbos and determine the thickness of undifferentiated crusts we have used previously calculated growth rates of the rt instability to determine the critical viscosity of ice needed for the rt instability to operate we calculate the viscosity of ice at the cold temperatures and long timescales relevant to kbos we find that crustal overturn is only possible where the temperature exceeds about 150 k and that rt instabilities cannot act on geological timescales within about 60 km of the surfaces of a kbo like charon although this crustal thickness is less than the 85 km previously calculated by desch et al desch s j cook j c doggett t c porter s b 2009 icarus 202 694 714 it is still significant representing 25 of the mass of the kbo we conclude that while rt instabilities may act in kbos they do not completely overturn their crusts we calculate that saturn s moon rhea should only partially differentiate resulting in a moment of inertia c mr 2 0 38

lunar surface roughness derived from lro diviner radiometer observations abstract sunlit and shaded slopes have a variety of temperatures based on their orientation with respect to the sun generally greater slope angles lead to higher anisothermality within the field of view this anisothermality is detected by measuring changing emitted radiance as a function of viewing angle or by measuring the difference in brightness temperatures with respect to observation wavelength thermal infrared measurements from the lunar reconnaissance orbiter diviner radiometer were used to derive lunar surface roughness via two observation types 1 nadir multispectral observations with full diurnal coverage and 2 multiple emission angle targeted observations measurements were compared to simulated radiance from a radiative equilibrium thermal model and gaussian slope distribution model nadir observations most closely match a 20 rms slope distribution and multiple emission angle observations can be modeled using 20 35 rms slope distributions limited sampling of the lunar surface did not show any clear variation in roughness among surface units two dimensional modeling shows that surfaces separated by distances greater than 0 5 5 mm can remain thermally isolated in the lunar environment indicating the length scale of the roughness features non equilibrium conditions are prevalent at night and near sunrise and sunset preventing the use of the equilibrium thermal model for roughness derivations using data acquired at these local times multiple emission angle observations also show a significant decrease in radiance at high emission angles in both daytime and nighttime observations and hemispherical emissivity is lower than is apparent from nadir observations these observations and models serve as a basis for comparison with similar measurements of other airless bodies and as an initial template for the interpretation of tir measurements acquired under a variety of geometric conditions

shallow impact isotopic insights into crustal contributions to the sudbury impact melt sheet abstract the largest known terrestrial impact melt sheet occurs within the 1850 ma sudbury structure ontario in order to evaluate the relative contributions of different target lithologies to the melt sheet we have investigated the pb isotope compositions of feldspar separates from early formed quartz diorite magmas within offset dykes from around the impact structure the samples define a linear array on plots of age corrected 206 pb 204 pb versus 207 pb 204 pb samples from offset dykes hosted by the huronian supergroup south range have a range of 206 pb 204 pb 1850 from 15 424 to 17 255 and 207 pb 204 pb 1850 from 15 390 to 15 801 whilst those hosted by archean gneisses of the superior province north range cluster around 206 pb 204 pb 1850 14 8 and 206 pb 204 pb 1850 15 1 these values can be approximated by binary mixing between the two major groups of target lithologies a mix of 60 70 of superior province gneisses with 30 40 of huronian metasedimentary material closely matches the pb isotope compositions of north range offset dyke samples whereas in the south range the required huronian component is up to ca 80 these mixing proportions are consistent with sr nd and os isotope and trace element constraints a third minor component either locally exposed paleoproterozoic mafic rocks or the lower crust is also required however the isotopic trace element and ni cu platinum group element characteristics of the melt sheet can be accommodated without the involvement of an average lower crustal or meteoritic component a major contribution of huronian supracrustal material which had a pre impact thickness of up to 12 km is required to explain the chemical characteristics of the impact melts which also have a strong upper crustal affinity e g eu sm 0 22 rb sr 0 2 0 35 as such a shallower level of melting is apparent than that predicted by many previous impact models for the sudbury event this can be accommodated by considering approach trajectories for the impactor oblique to the earth s surface in addition the isotopic and trace element variability identified indicates that the melt sheet was heterogeneous at an early stage and may not have been completely homogenised during crater formation our findings have significant implications for the nature of the sudbury impact event the evolution of the melt sheet and the crustal sources of metals contained in sudbury s world class ni cu pge sulphide ores

new insights on the 1 7 1 0 ga crustal evolution of the central grenville province from the manicouagan baie comeau transect abstract integrated field relationships and u pb geochronology of rocks exposed along the southern part of the manicouagan reservoir central grenville province quebec provide insights into protolith formation and thermal events that range in age from ca 1 7 to 0 9 ga and share common features with the rest of the grenville province and beyond from presently lower to higher structural levels main findings include the recognition of a ca 1 70 1 75 ga granitic magmatism and metamorphism in the southern part of the parautochthonous gagnon terrane correlative in age with late stages of magmatism in the makkovik orogen to the northeast b a ca 1 69 gabbro anorthosite suite island domain which is inferred to represent the southwesternmost exposure of labradorian crust in the central grenville province c a 1 4 ga volcaniclastic sequence and associated plutonic rocks canyon domain which based on lithological association and age is inferred to represent the nne extension of the montauban island arc and d a ca 1 2 ga bimodal felsic mafic volcanic to intermediate volcaniclastic sequence banded complex inferred to have originated in an intra continental rift system contemporaneously with the composite arc belt southwestern grenville province and with widespread extensional magmatism elsewhere in the canadian shield in addition 1 3 ga granitoid plutons are documented to intrude labradorian units at the nw boundary of canyon domain the significance of these plutons is ambiguous as they may represent either stitching plutons marking the accretion of the 1 4 ga canyon domain to the laurentian margin or the first stage in the development of the ca 1 2 ga continental rift system the hinterland units island domain canyon domain and banded complex were metamorphosed under medium pressure granulite facies conditions during the culmination of the grenvillian orogeny between 1 08 and 1 04 ga this metamorphism was accompanied by ca 1 07 ga a type granitic magmatism in canyon domain in addition locally abundant ca 0 98 ga late tectonic felsic pegmatite and ultrapotassic dykes occur in canyon domain this event is coeval with titanite ages documented in a wide range of units the data on the grenvillian evolution suggest mantle derived magmatism and associated metamorphism in the hinterland during both the culmination and the waning stages of the grenvillian orogeny

constraints on the recent rate of lunar ejecta breakdown and implications for crater ages we present a new empirical constraint on the rate of breakdown of large ejecta blocks on the moon based on observations from the lunar reconnaissance orbiter lro diviner thermal radiometer we find that the rockiness of fresh crater ejecta can be quantified using the diviner derived rock abundance data set and we present a strong inverse correlation between the 95 th percentile value of the ejecta rock abundance ra 95 5 and crater age for nine craters with published model ages derived from crater counts on their continuous ejecta ra 95 5 decreases with crater age as age m y 0 46 this result implies shorter rock survival times than predicted based on downward extrapolation of 100 m crater size frequency distributions and represents a new empirical constraint on the rate of comminution of large rocks not previously analyzed experimentally or through direct observation in addition our result provides a new method for dating young lunar craters

osmium isotope evidence for a crustal origin of platinum group elements in the sudbury nickel ore ontario canada abstract sulphide ores from the international nickel company s inco creighton mine sudbury were analysed for osmium isotope ratios by icp ms rhenium and osmium abundances were determined by isotope dilution using a mixed spike in solid solution in a nickel sulphide matrix calculated initial 187 os 188 os ratios at 1 85 ga the emplacement age of the sudbury complex cluster around 0 60 the occurrence of less radiogenic compositions is attributed to post emplacement open system behaviour of the re os system the creighton results strongly overlap the initial ratios of published osmium data from two other sudbury mines suggesting a narrow range of isotope ratio in the original ore within the range of estimated osmium isotope compositions in the country rock at 1 85 ga using published and new data therefore the sulphide ores of the sudbury complex can have an entirely crustal source without a mantle derived contribution this conclusion is consistent with published neodymium isotope data for the complex and supports the meteorite impact hypothesis since this is the most effective means of fusing the large quantity of crustal rocks necessary to generate the complex the extraction of platinum group elements pge from this silicate melt by a nickel sulphide liquid was probably analogous to the laboratory fire assay procedure

bladed terrain on pluto possible origins and evolution abstract bladed terrain on pluto consists of deposits of massive ch 4 which are observed to occur within latitudes 30 of the equator and are found almost exclusively at the highest elevations 2 km above the mean radius our analysis indicates that these deposits of ch 4 preferentially precipitate at low latitudes where net annual solar energy input is lowest ch 4 and n 2 will both precipitate at low elevations however since there is much more n 2 in the atmosphere than ch 4 the n 2 ice will dominate at these low elevations at high elevations the atmosphere is too warm for n 2 to precipitate so only ch 4 can do so we conclude that following the time of massive ch 4 emplacement there have been sufficient excursions in pluto s climate to partially erode these deposits via sublimation into the blades we see today blades composed of massive ch 4 ice implies that the mechanical behavior of ch 4 can support at least several hundred meters of relief at pluto surface conditions bladed terrain deposits may be widespread in the low latitudes of the poorly seen sub charon hemisphere based on spectral observations if these locations are indeed bladed terrain deposits they may mark heretofore unrecognized regions of high elevation

isotopic heterogeneity in the sudbury impact melt sheet abstract a unique terrestrial large impact melt sheet is preserved in the 1850 ma sudbury structure ontario we have undertaken a pb isotope investigation of the southern limb of the melt sheet termed the south range main mass the model initial pb isotope ratios 207 pb 204 pb m vary stratigraphically through the predominantly quartz monzogabbroic lower unit varying from 15 40 to 15 45 at the base to ca 15 35 at the top of the sequence lateral variations of similar range occur in basal lower unit samples over scales of less than 5 km the range of these variations is similar to those of locally exposed upper crustal target rocks and it is evident that the melt sheet has efficiently preserved inherited variability during the violent phases of crater formation superheated impact melts are expected to be well mixed mechanically therefore significant post impact melting of target rocks fallback material and entrained clasts is required to explain such heterogeneity the sudbury structure hosts world class ni cu pge sulphide ore deposits systematic variation in 207 pb 204 pb m occurs throughout sulphide ores within the creighton embayment from massive 15 42 15 45 to interstitial ca 15 40 15 41 and disseminated ca 15 39 sulphide linking the pb isotope composition of these ores to the immediately overlying lower unit stratigraphy a protracted sulphide segregation history is apparent massive sulphides segregated early prior to or during initial silicate crystallisation although the total time involved in sulphide accumulation spanned much of the crystallisation of the lower unit it is also shown that lateral variations in ni depletion throughout the main mass correlate with pb isotopes those segments with the strongest chalcophile element depletion signatures reflecting the accumulation of significant basal sulphides have high initial pb isotope values consistent with early sulphide segregation the characterisation of pb isotopic heterogeneity has therefore provided insights into the evolution and scales of mixing of the melt sheet with the identified chemical variability between melt cells having a significant influence on ore forming processes

the ch4 cycles on pluto over seasonal and astronomical timescales abstract pluto s surface is covered in numerous ch4 ice deposits that vary in texture and brightness as revealed by the new horizons spacecraft as it flew by pluto in july 2015 these observations suggest that ch4 on pluto has a complex history involving reservoirs of different composition thickness and stability controlled by volatile processes occurring on different timescales in order to interpret these observations we use a pluto volatile transport model able to simulate the cycles of n2 and ch4 ices over millions of years by assuming fixed solid mixing ratios we explore how changes in surface albedos emissivities and thermal inertias impact volatile transport this work is therefore a direct and natural continuation of the work by bertrand et al 2018 which only explored the n2 cycles results show that bright ch4 deposits can create cold traps for n2 ice outside sputnik planitia leading to a strong coupling between the n2 and ch4 cycles depending on the assumed albedo for ch4 ice the model predicts ch4 ice accumulation 1 at the same equatorial latitudes where the bladed terrain deposits are observed supporting the idea that these ch4 rich deposits are massive and perennial or 2 at mid latitudes 25 70 forming a thick mantle which is consistent with new horizons observations in our simulations both ch4 ice reservoirs are not in an equilibrium state and either one can dominate the other over long timescales depending on the assumptions made for the ch4 albedo this suggests that long term volatile transport exists between the observed reservoirs the model also reproduces the formation of n2 deposits at mid latitudes and in the equatorial depressions surrounding the bladed terrain deposits as observed by new horizons at the poles only seasonal ch4 and n2 deposits are obtained in pluto s current orbital configuration finally we show that pluto s atmosphere always contained over the last astronomical cycles enough gaseous ch4 to absorb most of the incoming lyman flux

giordano bruno small crater populations implications for self secondary cratering abstract giordano bruno is a lunar farside copernican age crater the relatively few superposed impact craters on its floor and ejecta blanket and extensive bright rays indicate its youth high resolution lunar reconnaissance orbiter camera images reveal that the frequency and the characteristics of the cumulative size frequency distributions of the small diameter impact craters and their morphology vary across the clastic ejecta and impact melt covered surfaces crater frequencies n 10 defined as 10 m km 2 vary by a factor of 10 s 100 s n 10 2 700 across the ejecta blanket and between the ejecta and the melt deposits numerous craters on the ejecta blanket are degraded and buried by debris and impact melt indicating that these partially buried craters formed during the deposition of the ejecta and prior to or during the emplacement of the impact melt from geologic relations and crater statistics we conclude that a significant fraction of the craters observed on the ejecta blanket and the melt were formed during the cratering process itself and represent self secondaries further we conclude that these craters do not represent an extra lunar primary impact production population self secondary craters are formed by material launched into near vertical trajectories and having velocities such that their flight time is sufficiently long that the bulk of the clastic ejecta and impact melt are deposited before that material impacts the surface the presence of a significant number of self secondary craters on the ejecta makes the determination of relative and absolute age dates problematic crater counts would indicate an inappropriately old age using data for craters on the melt surfaces and for small diameter bright ejecta craters an absolute model age of 1 ma is estimated this age is considerably younger than that estimated by other studies and probably represents a maximum age

the fractured moon production and saturation of porosity in the lunar highlands from impact cratering we have analyzed the bouguer anomaly ba of 1200 complex craters in the lunar highlands from gravity recovery and interior laboratory observations the ba of these craters is generally negative though positive ba values are observed particularly for smaller craters crater ba values scale inversely with crater diameter quantifying how larger impacts produce more extensive fracturing and dilatant bulking the bouguer anomaly of craters larger than 93 47 19 km in diameter is independent of crater size indicating that there is a limiting depth to impact generated porosity presumably from pore collapse associated with either overburden pressure or viscous flow impact generated porosity of the bulk lunar crust is likely in a state of equilibrium for craters smaller than 30km in diameter consistent with an 8km thick lunar megaregolith whereas the gravity signature of larger craters is still preserved and provides new insight into the cratering record of even the oldest lunar surfaces

young lunar volcanic features thermophysical properties and formation abstract irregular mare patches imps are small volcanic features on the lunar nearside with young model ages several formation mechanisms have been proposed including caldera collapse explosive outgassing lava flow inflation pyroclastic eruption and regolith drainage we present new observations of the four largest imps sosigenes ina cauchy 5 and maskelyne using the lunar reconnaissance orbiter lro diviner lunar radiometer diviner and evaluate the formation hypotheses in the context of both previous results and the results presented here we find that the imps have a rock abundance slightly higher than their surrounding terrain comparison of the diviner data with thermal models excludes the possibility of extensive competent rocks within 15 cm of the surface at the imps we also derive the thermal inertia at the four largest imps three appear to have thermal inertias slightly higher than typical regolith due to alteration by nearby craters or mass wasting from surrounding steep slopes but ina has a thermal inertia lower than the surrounding terrain in particular the largest smooth mound in ina is the area with the lowest thermal inertia suggesting that the material on the mound is less consolidated than typical regolith and or contains fewer small rocks

impact basin relaxation as a probe for the thermal history of pluto we investigate viscoelastic impact basin relaxation on pluto for a variety of thermal evolution scenarios encompassing both convective and conductive ice shells basins smaller than 200 km in diameter do not relax appreciably while relaxation fractions can be up to 60 for large impact basins the main control on basin relaxation is the amount of radiogenic heat produced in the rocky core our results are insensitive to the formation time of the basin the ice reference viscosity adopted and the presence absence of a subsurface ocean other volatiles such as co2 or nh3 if present in the ice shell in sufficient quantities could increase the predicted relaxation fraction of basins relaxation causes extensional stresses interior to the basin the orientation of the resulting tectonic features is controlled by the effective elastic thickness beneath the basin future observations of the relaxation states and tectonics of impact basins are therefore likely to provide a key constraint on pluto s thermal history

low temperature hydrothermal alteration of intra caldera tuffs miocene tejeda caldera gran canaria canary islands abstract the miocene tejeda caldera on gran canaria erupted 20 rhyolite trachyte ignimbrites mogan group 14 13 3 ma followed by 20 phonolitic lava flows and ignimbrites fataga group 13 8 5 ma upper mogan tuffs have been severely altered immediately within the caldera margin whereas extra caldera mogan ignimbrites and overlying fataga units are apparently unaltered the altered intra caldera samples contain minerals characteristic of secondary fluid rock interaction clays zeolites adularia and relics of the primary mineral assemblage identified in unaltered ignimbrites k feldspar plagioclase pyroxene amphibole and groundmass quartz major and trace element data indicate that si na k pb sr and rb were strongly mobilized during fluid rock interaction whereas ti zr and nb behaved in a more refractory manner experiencing only minor mobilization the 18o values of the altered intra caldera tuffs are significantly higher than in unaltered extra caldera ignimbrites consistent with an overall low temperature alteration environment unaltered extra caldera ignimbrites have d values between 110 and 173 which may reflect rayleigh type magma degassing and or post depositional vapour release the d values of the altered intra caldera tuffs range from 52 to 131 with ambient meteoric water at the alteration site estimated at ca 15 interaction and equilibration of the intra caldera tuffs with ambient meteoric water at low temperature can only account for whole rock d values of around 45 given that dclay water is ca 30 at 100 c and decreases in magnitude at higher temperatures all altered tuff samples have d values that are substantially lower than 45 indicating interaction with a meteoric water source with a d value more negative than 15 which may have been produced in low temperature steam fumaroles supported by numerical modeling our gran canaria data reflect the near surface epithermal part of a larger fault controlled hydrothermal system associated with the emplacement of the high level fataga magma chamber system in this near surface environment fluid temperatures probably did not exceed 200 250 c

role of material properties in the cratering record of young platy ridged lava on mars 1 platy ridged surfaces in the elysium planitia region of mars exhibit different crater densities on rafted plates and polygonally patterned areas between them rather than being indicative of different ages these differences provide insight into the variable strength of different types of lava surface the sizes of small craters and the resulting size frequency distribution sfd depend on the material strength of target surfaces brecciated lava surfaces are likely to have higher crater densities than coherent lava

origin of discrepancies between crater size frequency distributions of coeval lunar geologic units via target property contrasts abstract recent work on dating copernican aged craters using lunar reconnaissance orbiter lro camera data re encountered a curious discrepancy in crater size frequency distribution csfd measurements that was observed but not understood during the apollo era for example at tycho copernicus and aristarchus craters csfds of impact melt deposits give significantly younger relative and absolute model ages amas than impact ejecta blankets although these two units formed during one impact event and would ideally yield coeval ages at the resolution of the csfd technique we investigated the effects of contrasting target properties on csfds and their resultant relative and absolute model ages for coeval lunar impact melt and ejecta units we counted craters with diameters through the transition from strength to gravity scaling on two large impact melt deposits at tycho and king craters and we used pi group scaling calculations to model the effects of differing target properties on final crater diameters for five different theoretical lunar targets the new csfd for the large king crater melt pond bridges the gap between the discrepant csfds within a single geologic unit thus the observed trends in the impact melt csfds support the occurrence of target property effects rather than self secondary and or field secondary contamination the csfds generated from the pi group scaling calculations show that targets with higher density and effective strength yield smaller crater diameters than weaker targets such that the relative ages of the former are lower relative to the latter consequently coeval impact melt and ejecta units will have discrepant apparent ages target property differences also affect the resulting slope of the csfd with stronger targets exhibiting shallower slopes so that the final crater diameters may differ more greatly at smaller diameters besides their application to age dating the csfds may provide additional information about the characteristics of the target for example the transition diameter from strength to gravity scaling could provide a tool for investigating the relative strengths of different geologic units the magnitude of the offset between the impact melt and ejecta isochrons may also provide information about the relative target properties and or exposure degradation ages of the two units robotic or human sampling of coeval units on the moon could provide a direct test of the importance and magnitude of target property effects on csfds

dating very young planetary surfaces from crater statistics a review of issues and challenges determining the ages of young planetary surfaces relies on using populations of small often sub km diameter impact craters due to the higher frequency at which they form smaller craters however can be less reliable for estimating ages as their size frequency distribution is more susceptible to alteration with debate as to whether they should be used at all with the current plethora of meter scale resolution images acquired of the lunar and martian surfaces small craters have been widely used to derive model ages to establish the temporal relation of recent geologic events in this review paper we discuss the many factors that make smaller craters particularly challenging to use and should be taken into consideration when crater counts are confined to small crater diameters establishing confidence in a model age ultimately requires an understanding of the geologic context of the surface being dated as reliability can vary considerably and limitations of the dating technique should be considered in applying ages to any geologic interpretation

dating the cooling of exhumed central uplifts of impact structures by the u th he method a case study at manicouagan abstract forty titanite grain fragments from 9 central uplift samples of metamorphosed anorthosite from the manicouagan impact structure were dated by the u th he technique a u th he central age of 207 1 6 4 ma 2 standard error se n 40 has been determined with 4 outlier ages removed the central age is refined to 208 9 5 1 ma 2 se both of these ages are within error of the previously determined u pb zircon age of 214 1 ma 2 derived from the impact melt manicouagan s central uplift formed due to rapid elevation from 7 10 km depth as part of the modification stage of the impact process which has facilitated the dating of its emplacement due to resulting rapid exhumation and cooling and closure of the u th he system in titanite correlation with the previous u pb zircon 214 1 ma impact melt crystallization age indicates that the u th he titanite dating technique offers a new approach to dating complex impact structures in the absence of viable melt sheets or other melt products the youngest ca 195 ma u th he dates preserved in some titanite fragments are synchronous with early jurassic rift induced lithospheric thinning and associated igneous activity that defines the central atlantic magmatic province camp the u th he titanite data from manicouagan indicate that the influence of this regional event may extend west of the previously proposed limit of camp activity

the manicouagan impact melt sheet evidence for isotopic homogenization with limited assimilation abstract the rb sr pb pb and sm nd isotope chemistry of impact generated melt and target rocks has been determined from the 214 ma 90 km rim diameter manicouagan impact structure of canada fifty seven samples were obtained from 8 field sites and 11 drill core sites across the impact melt sheet located on the 55 km diameter central island ile rene levasseur the results reveal that the impact melt though locally differentiated via fractional crystallization was isotopically homogenized during its formation following its derivation primarily from charnockites and mesocratic gneisses the isotopic signatures of the target rocks indicate that the protolith for the melt was the proterozoic manicouagan imbricate zone and that the underlying archean gagnon terrane was not involved in melt production or its subsequent modification via assimilation despite impact melt resting on archean lithologies in the southwest sector of the melt sheet limited assimilation of the footwall in this sector is attributed to the relatively rapid cooling of a thinner peripheral melt body

global regolith thermophysical properties of the moon from the diviner lunar radiometer experiment we used infrared data from the lunar reconnaissance orbiter lro diviner lunar radiometer experiment to globally map thermophysical properties of the moon s regolith fines layer thermal conductivity varies from 7 4 10 4 w m 1 k 1 at the surface to 3 4 10 3 w m 1 k 1 at depths of 1 m given density values of 1100 kg m 3 at the surface to 1800 kg m 3 at 1 m depth on average the scale height of these profiles is 7 cm corresponding to a thermal inertia of 55 2 j m 2 k 1 s 1 2 at 273 k relevant to the diurnally active near surface layer 4 7 cm the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity and heat capacity leads to a 2x diurnal variation in thermal inertia at the equator on global scales the regolith fines are remarkably uniform implying rapid homogenization by impact gardening of this layer on timescales 100 j m 2 k 1 s 1 2 in the interiors and ejecta of copernican aged impact craters and lower thermal inertia 50 j m 2 k 1 s 1 2 within the lunar cold spots identified by bandfield et al 2014 observed trends in ejecta thermal inertia provide a potential tool for age dating craters of previously unknown age complementary to the approach suggested by ghent et al 2014 several anomalous regions are identified in the global 128 pixels per degree maps presented here including a high thermal inertia deposit near the antipode of tycho crater

tectonic influences on the morphometry of the sudbury impact structure implications for terrestrial cratering and modeling impact structures developed on active terrestrial planets earth and venus are susceptible to pre impact tectonic influences on their formation this means that we cannot expect them to conform to ideal cratering models which are commonly based on the response of a homogeneous target devoid of pre existing flaws in the case of the 1 85 ga sudbury impact structure of ontario canada considerable influence has been exerted on modification stage processes by late archean to early proterozoic basement faults two trends are dominant 1 the nnw striking onaping fault system which is parallel to the 2 47 ga matachewan dyke swarm and 2 the ene striking murray fault system which acted as a major paleoproterozoic suture zone that contributed to the development of the huronian sedimentary basin between 2 45 2 2 ga sudbury has also been affected by syn to post impact regional deformation and metamorphism the 1 9 1 8 ga penokean orogeny which involved nnw directed reverse faulting uplift and transpression at mainly greenschist facies grade and the 1 16 0 99 ga grenville orogeny which overprinted the se sector of the impact structure to yield a polydeformed upper amphibolite facies terrain the pre syn and post impact tectonics of the region have rendered the sudbury structure a complicated feature careful reconstruction is required before its original morphometry can be established this is likely to be true for many impact structures developed on active terrestrial planets based on extensive field work combined with remote sensing and geophysical data four ring systems have been identified at sudbury the inner three rings broadly correlate with pseudotachylyte friction melt rich fault systems the first ring has a diameter of 90 km and defines what is interpreted to be the remains of the central uplift the second ring delimits the collapsed transient cavity diameter at 130 km and broadly corresponds to the original melt sheet diameter the third ring has a diameter of 180 km the fourth ring defines the suggested apparent crater diameter at 260 km this approximates the final rim diameter given that erosion in the north range is 6 km and the ring faults are steeply dipping impact damage beyond ring 4 may occur but has not yet been identified in the field one or more rings within the central uplift ring 1 may also exist this form and concentric structure indicates that sudbury is a peak ring or more probably a multi ring basin these parameters provide the foundation for modeling the formation of thisrelatively large terrestrial impact structure

hf isotope evidence for effective impact melt homogenisation at the sudbury impact crater ontario canada abstract we report on the first zircon hafnium oxygen isotope and trace element study of a transect through one of the largest terrestrial impact melt sheets the differentiated melt sheet at the 1 85 ga originally ca 200 km in diameter sudbury impact crater ontario canada yields a tight range of uniform zircon hf isotope compositions e hf 1850 of ca 9 to 12 this is consistent with its well established crustal origin and indicates differentiation from a single melt that was initially efficiently homogenised we propose that the heterogeneity in other isotopic systems such as pb in early emplaced impact melt at sudbury is associated with volatility related depletion during the impact cratering process this depletion leaves the isotopic systems of more volatile elements more susceptible to contamination during post impact assimilation of country rock whereas the systems of more refractory elements preserve initial homogeneities zircon oxygen isotope compositions in the melt sheet are also restricted in range relative to those in the impacted target rocks however they display a marked offset approximately one third up the melt sheet stratigraphy that is interpreted to be a result of post impact assimilation of 18 o enirched rocks into the base of the cooling impact melt given that impact cratering was a more dominant process in the early history of the inner solar system than it is today and the possibility that impact melt sheets were sources of ex situ hadean zircon grains these findings may have significance for the interpretation of the early zircon hf record we speculate that apparent e hf time arrays observed in the oldest terrestrial and lunar zircon datasets may be related to impact melting homogenising previously more diverse crust we also show that spatially restricted partial melting of rocks buried beneath the superheated impact melt at sudbury provided a zircon crystallising environment distinct to the impact melt sheet itself

the global surface temperatures of the moon as measured by the diviner lunar radiometer experiment abstract the diviner lunar radiometer experiment onboard the lunar reconnaissance orbiter lro has been acquiring solar reflectance and mid infrared radiance measurements nearly continuously since july of 2009 diviner is providing the most comprehensive view of how regoliths on airless bodies store and exchange thermal energy with the space environment approximately a quarter trillion calibrated radiance measurements of the moon acquired over 5 5 years by diviner have been compiled into a 0 5 resolution global dataset with a 0 25 h local time resolution maps generated with this dataset provide a global perspective of the surface energy balance of the moon and reveal the complex and extreme nature of the lunar surface thermal environment our achievable map resolution both spatially and temporally will continue to improve with further data acquisition daytime maximum temperatures are sensitive to the albedo of the surface and are 387 397 k at the equator dropping to 95 k just before sunrise though anomalously warm areas characterized by high rock abundances can be 50 k warmer than the zonal average nighttime temperatures an asymmetry is observed between the morning and afternoon temperatures due to the thermal inertia of the lunar regolith with the dusk terminator 30 k warmer than the dawn terminator at the equator an increase in albedo with incidence angle is required to explain the observed decrease in temperatures with latitude at incidence angles exceeding 40 topography and surface roughness influence temperatures resulting in increasing scatter in temperatures and anisothermality between diviner channels nighttime temperatures are sensitive to the thermophysical properties of the regolith high thermal inertia ti materials such as large rocks remain warmer during the long lunar night and result in anomalously warm nighttime temperatures and anisothermality in the diviner channels anomalous maximum and minimum temperatures are highlighted by subtracting the zonal mean temperatures from maps terrains can be characterized as low or high reflectance and low or high ti low maximum temperatures result from high reflectance surfaces while low minimum temperatures from low ti material conversely high maximum temperatures result from dark surface and high minimum temperatures from high ti materials impact craters are found to modify regolith properties over large distances the thermal signature of tycho is asymmetric consistent with an oblique impact coming from the west some prominent crater rays are visible in the thermal data and require material with a higher thermal inertial than nominal regolith the influence of the formation of the orientale basin on the regolith properties is observable over a substantial portion of the western hemisphere despite its age 3 8 gyr and may have contributed to mixing of highland and mare material on the southwest margin of oceanus procellarum where the gradient in radiative properties at the mare highland contact is broad 200 km

optical maturity of ejecta from large rayed lunar craters lucey et al 2000 have developed a methodology for extracting an optical maturity parameter omat from multispectral clementine images the omat parameter characterizes the overall maturity of lunar soils and crater ejecta by changes in reflectance spectra using these omat images we surveyed large craters 20 km diameter on the moon that had previously been mapped as possessing or possibly possessing rayed ejecta we generated average radial profiles of omat values for rays of these large craters from these profiles we classified the craters into three relative age groups 1 older than copernicus inferred age of 810 myr 2 intermediate and 3 as young or younger than tycho inferred age of 109 myr we suspect that there is a bias to our classification scheme such that the omat profiles of smaller craters look like that of larger but older craters nevertheless some large craters such as eudoxus 67 km and aristillus 55 km are now known from this study to have optically mature ejecta and therefore are suspected to be older than copernicus this is consistent with an age of 1 3 gyr suggested for aristillus by ryder et al 1991 such craters were included by mcewen et al 1997 when estimating the density of craters younger than or contemporaneous with copernicus therefore the case for a modest increase in the cratering rate in the past 800 myr versus the previous 2 4 gyr indicated from that work has been weakened grier and mcewen 2001 given current constraints on dating large and recent lunar craters we cannot support or disprove the hypothesis that there has been a significant increase in the rate of large terrestrial impact events in the past 100 400 myr

distal ejecta from lunar impacts extensive regions of rocky deposits abstract lunar reconnaissance orbiter lro diviner radiometer mini rf and lro camera data were used to identify and characterize rocky lunar deposits that appear well separated from any potential source crater two regions are described 1 a 18 000 km 2 area with elevated rock abundance and extensive melt ponds and veneers near the antipode of tycho crater 167 5 e 42 5 n this region has been identified previously using radar and imaging data 2 a much larger and more diffuse region covering 730 000 km 2 centered near 310 e 35 s containing elevated rock abundance and numerous granular flow deposits on crater walls the rock distributions in both regions favor certain slope azimuths over others indicating a directional component to the formation of these deposits the spatial distribution of rocks is consistent with the arrival of ejecta from the west and northwest at low angles 10 30 above the horizon in both regions the derived age and slope orientations of the deposits indicate that the deposits likely originated as ejecta from the tycho impact event despite their similar origin the deposits in the two regions show significant differences in the datasets the tycho crater antipode deposit covers a smaller area but the deposits are pervasive and appear to be dominated by impact melts by contrast the nearside deposits cover a much larger area and numerous granular flows were triggered however the features in this region are less prominent with no evidence for the presence of impact melts the two regions appear to be surface expressions of a distant impact event that can modify surfaces across wide regions resulting in a variety of surface morphologies the tycho impact event may only be the most recent manifestation of these processes which likely have played a role in the development of the regolith throughout lunar history

the temperatures of giordano bruno crater observed by the diviner lunar radiometer experiment application of an effective field of view model for a point based data set abstract point based planetary datasets are typically stored as discrete records that represent an infinitesimal location on the target body instrumental effects and spacecraft motion during integration time can cause single points to inadequately represent the total area on the target that contributes to an observation production of mapped data products from these data for scientific analysis proceeds by binning points onto rectangular grids empty bins occur where data coverage is insufficient relative to grid resolution a common problem at high latitudes in cylindrical projections and remedial interpolation can lead to high uncertainty areas and artifacts in maps to address such issues and make better use of available data we present a method to calculate the ground projected effective field of view efov for point based datasets using knowledge of instrumental characteristics and observation geometry we apply this approach to data from the lunar reconnaissance orbiter lro diviner lunar radiometer experiment a visible to far infrared multispectral radiometer which acquires radiometric measurements of reflected visible and emitted infrared radiation of the moon in 9 spectral channels between 0 35 and 400 m analysis of gridded radiance from crater giordano bruno a 22 km diameter rayed crater is used to demonstrate our gridding procedure diviner data with such processing reveals details of the surface that are seen in the high resolution lro camera nac images brightness temperatures and anisothermality observed in diviner s ir channels show the thermophysical properties of the crater ejecta to be very heterogeneous indicative of minimal mechanical disruption by micrometeoroid impacts consistent with a very young

high pressure high temperature rocks from the base of thick continental crust geology and age constraints from the manicouagan imbricate zone eastern grenville province the grenville province of the canadian shield is composed of crustal material with laurentian affinities involved in continental collision during the grenvillian orogeny between 1 19 and 0 98 ga in the eastern grenville province the manicouagan imbricate zone miz is composed of paleoproterozoic labradorian 1 6 ga and mesoproterozoic pinwarian 1 4 ga crustal segments that were metamorphosed under high pressure high temperature high p t conditions p 1800 mpa and 800 t 900 c and intruded by synmetamorphic gabbroic stocks and dykes and postmetamorphic granite during a 1 0 ga crustal shortening event in the grenvillian orogeny the gabbroic dykes display high p mineral assemblages and a withinplate tholeiite signature attesting to the intrusion of asthenospheric melts during the high p metamorphism the structural configuration of miz is that of a thrust stack lelukuau terrane overlain by an extensional assembly of slices tshenukutish terrane to the north lelukuau terrane overlies archean basement and paleoproterozoic supracrustal rocks of the gagnon terrane along a thrust contact tshenukutish terrane is tectonically overlain to the south by crustal slices composed of pre grenvillian and early grenvillian lithologic units that are correlative with those in miz but which were at midcrustal levels during the grenvillian orogeny low p segment of the eastern grenville province and were intruded by anorthosite and granitoids farther south a likely tectonothermal evolution of miz at 1 0 ga involves crustal shortening by imbrication in a postsubduction phase of continental collision followed by convective removal of the underlying thickened lithospheric mantle and the rise of hot asthenospheric material close to the base of the crust exhumation of miz likely occurred from the basal levels of the crust and was achieved by 1 nw directed thrusting over a crustal scale ramp archean basement of the gagnon terrane with coeval extension at the higher levels of the pile stage 1 extension and 2 a second extension event stage 2 extension coeval with emplacement of postmetamorphic granite at the boundary between miz and the low p segment

u th he dating of terrestrial impact structures the manicouagan example the accurate dating of meteorite impact structures on earth has proven to be challenging melt sheets are amenable to high precision dating by the u pb and 40ar 39ar methods but many impact events do not produce them or they are not preserved in cases where high temperature shock metamorphism of the target materials has occurred without widespread melting these isotopic chronometers may be partially reset and yield dates that are difficult to interpret unambiguously as the age of impact however the u th he chronometer is sensitive to thermal resetting and can provide a powerful new tool for dating impactites we report u th he dates for accessory minerals from the manicouagan impact structure in quebec canada nine zircons from a melt sheet sample yield a weighted mean age of 213 2 5 4 ma 2se indistinguishable from the published 214 1 ma 2 u pb zircon age for the impact in contrast five apatites from this sample yield dates between 205 9 6 5 and 162 0 5 3 ma 2 indicating variable postimpact helium loss due to low temperature thermal disturbance preimpact titanite crystals from a shocked meta anorthosite sample yield two dates consistent with the impact age at 212 27 and 214 13 ma 2 and two younger dates of 189 6 6 9 and 192 2 9 8 ma 2 suggestive of postimpact helium loss these results indicate that u th he chronometry is a suitable method for dating impact events although interpretation of the results requires recognition of possible 4he loss related to reheating subsequent to impact

highly silicic compositions on the moon using data from the diviner lunar radiometer experiment we show that four regions of the moon previously described as red spots exhibit mid infrared spectra best explained by quartz silica rich glass or alkali feldspar these lithologies are consistent with evolved rocks similar to lunar granites in the apollo samples the spectral character of these spots is distinct from surrounding mare and highlands material and from regions composed of pure plagioclase feldspar the variety of landforms associated with the silicic spectral character suggests that both extrusive and intrusive silicic magmatism occurred on the moon basaltic underplating is the preferred mechanism for silicic magma generation leading to the formation of extrusive landforms this mechanism or silicate liquid immiscibility could lead to the formation of intrusive bodies

the origin of lunar mascon basins high resolution gravity data from the gravity recovery and interior laboratory spacecraft have clarified the origin of lunar mass concentrations mascons free air gravity anomalies over lunar impact basins display bull s eye patterns consisting of a central positive mascon anomaly a surrounding negative collar and a positive outer annulus we show that this pattern results from impact basin excavation and collapse followed by isostatic adjustment and cooling and contraction of a voluminous melt pool we used a hydrocode to simulate the impact and a self consistent finite element model to simulate the subsequent viscoelastic relaxation and cooling the primary parameters controlling the modeled gravity signatures of mascon basins are the impactor energy the lunar thermal gradient at the time of impact the crustal thickness and the extent of volcanic fill

bulk mineralogy of lunar crater central peaks via thermal infrared spectra from the diviner lunar radiometer a study of the moon s crustal composition at depth 1 the central peaks of lunar impact craters are thought to be composed of uplifted material originating from varying depths of the crustal column the interpreted crystallization sequence of the early lunar magma ocean resulted in an anorthositic upper crust that may become progressively more mafic as it approaches the olivine rich mantle emissivity spectra from the lunar reconnaissance orbiter lro diviner radiometer are used to derive the wavelength location of the christiansen feature cf which is sensitive to bulk silicate mineralogy here a survey of cf values has been performed for the central peaks of 135 complex craters providing global and regional observations of the heterogeneity of crustal compositions crustal thickness models give context to the preimpact depth of the central peak material and its proximity to the crust mantle boundary this study has identified six craters with potentially ultramafic compositions within their central peaks more common occurrences of mafic material found in a wide variety of crater central peaks show a silicate composition roughly similar to mare basalt or an olivine bearing gabbro the range of central peak cf values is similar to that of the rest of the lunar surface bulk mineralogy of the central peak material does not appear to be correlated with its crustal depth of origin suggesting both lateral and vertical heterogeneity in crustal composition rather than a gradual transition from felsic to mafic composition it is likely that the moon s extensive cratering history has continually overturned the original crust erasing any original systematic dependence of composition on depth or proximity to the mantle

the tidal response of europa the tidal response of europa to a time varying potential is determined by solving the quasi static equilibrium equations for a body composed of several uniform maxwell viscoelastic layers models in which europa s surface ice extends all the way to the silicate mantle have weak tidal responses 1 m vertical deflection while models in which a liquid ocean underlies the ice have about 30 m peak vertical deflection the phase lag of the tidal response is very small 2 in the case of an ocean but may be large if there is no ocean and the ice has a viscosity around 1013 pa s for models with an ocean the product of the thickness and strength of the ice determines the tidal response making it difficult to determine the thickness of the ice by observing the tidal deflection of europa

lunar multiring basins and the cratering process abstract numerous studies of the lunar gravity field have concluded that the lunar moho is substantially uplifted beneath the young multiring basins this uplift is presumably due to the excavation of large quantities of crustal material during the cratering process and subsequent rebound of the impact basin floor using a new dual layered crustal thickness model of the moon the excavation cavities of some nearside multiring basins grimaldi and larger and younger than tranquillitatis were reconstructed by restoring the uplifted moho to its preimpact location the farside south pole aitken spa basin was also considered due to its importance in deciphering lunar evolution restoring the moho to its preimpact position beneath these basins resulted in a roughly parabolic depression from which the depth and diameter of the excavation cavity could be determined using these reconstructed excavation cavities the basin forming process was investigated excavation cavity diameters were generally found to be on the small side of most previous estimates for orientale the modeled excavation cavity lies within the inner rook ring additionally with the exception of the three largest basins serenitatis imbrium and south pole aitken the depth diameter ratios of the excavation cavities were found to be 0 115 0 005 a value consistent with theoretical and experimental results for impact craters orders of magnitude smaller in size the three largest basins however appear to have significantly shallower depths of excavation compared to this trend it is possible that this may reflect a different physical process of crater formation e g nonproportional scaling special impact conditions or postimpact modification processes the crustal thickness model also shows that each basin is surrounded by an annulus of thickened crust we interpret this thickened crust as representing thick basin ejecta deposits and we show that the radial variation in the thickness of these deposits is consistent with scaling laws obtained from small scale experimental studies if multiring basins ever possessed a terraced main crater rim this terraced zone may be presently unrecognizable at the surface due to the emplacement of ejecta deposits that exceed a few kilometers in thickness exterior to the excavation cavity rim we also show that the interiors of many basins were superisostatic before mare volcanism commenced those basins that were closest to approaching a premare isostatic state lie close to or within an anomalous geochemical province rich in heat producing elements

the mairan domes silicic volcanic constructs on the moon 1 the mairan domes are four features located in northern oceanus procellarum at 312 3e 41 4n on the moon high resolution visible imagery visible to mid ir spectra and lunar prospector th abundance data all indicate that these four domes have a composition that is consistent with derivation from a si rich highly evolved magma

a sharper view of impact craters from clementine data the ultraviolet visible camera on the clementine spacecraft obtained high spatial resolution images of the moon in five spectral channels impact craters mapped with these multispectral images show a scale of lithologic diversity that varies with crater size and target stratigraphy prominent lithologic variations feldspathic versus basaltic occur within the south wall of copernicus 93 kilometers in diameter on the scale of 1 to 2 kilometers lithologic diversity at tycho 85 kilometers in diameter is less apparent at this scale although the impact melt of these two large craters is remarkably similar in this spectral range the lunar surface within and around the smaller crater giordano bruno 22 kilometers in diameter is largely dominated by the mixing of freshly excavated material with surrounding older soils derived from a generally similar feldspathic lithology

shock metamorphic features and their zoning and orientation in the precambrian rocks of the manicouagan structure quebec canada abstract the manicouagan structure of impact origin is located in eastern quebec about 300 km north of the st lawrence river the complex is of triassic age the shock deformation of the more important rock forming minerals of the autochthonous or at least parautochthonous rocks within the structure is described four zones of shock metamorphism are delineated based on the deformation features of plagioclase 1 plagioclase without planar features 2 plagioclase with planar features 3 first occurrence of plagioclase with partial isotropization and 4 first occurrence of plagioclase with total isotropization these four zones are more or less concentric and indicate a general increase in the grade of shock metamorphism towards the centre of the structure however several small areas probably underlain by allochthonous rocks appear not to fit this general picture biotite and garnet show evidence of a shock orientation of their deformation features an impact origin for the structure is favoured the impact possibly triggering volcanism

origin of the sudbury complex by meteoritic impact neodymium isotopic evidence samarium neodymium isotopic data on whole rocks and minerals of the sudbury complex in canada gave an igneous crystallization age of 1840 21 x 10 6 years the initial epsilon neodymium values for 15 whole rocks are similar to those for average upper continental crust falling on the crustal trend of neodymium isotopic evolution as defined by shales the rare earth element concentration patterns of sudbury rocks are also similar to upper crustal averages these data suggest that the sudbury complex formed from melts generated in the upper crust and are consistent with a meteoritic impact

the production of small primary craters on mars and the moon abstract we model the primary crater production of small d d 10 20 cm well below the downturn observed in the distribution of fresh craters detected by the mars global surveyor mgs mars orbiter camera moc or the mars reconnaissance orbiter mro context camera ctx crater counts are conducted on the ejecta blanket of zunil crater and the interior of pangboche crater on mars and north ray and cone craters on the moon our model isochrons produce a similar slope and age estimate for the formation of zunil crater as the hartmann production function 1 ma we derive an age of 35 1 ma for pangboche when accounting for the higher elevation 20 km higher than zunil a factor 2 younger than estimated using the hartmann production function which assumes 6 mbar surface pressure we estimate ages of 52 3 ma and 23 9 ma for north ray and cone crater respectively consistent with cosmic ray exposure ages from apollo samples our results indicate that the average cratering rate has been constant on these bodies over these time periods since our monte carlo simulations demonstrate that the existing crater chronology systems can be applied to date young surfaces using small craters on the moon and mars we conclude that the signal from secondary craters in the isochrons must be relatively small at these locations as our monte carlo model only generates primary craters

imaging of lunar surface maturity the physical evolution of the lunar surface with exposure to the space environment is termed maturation and maturity is the degree to which a particular lunar soil possesses quantitative characteristics consistent with that exposure several quantitative measures or indices of maturity have been proposed and employed including the abundance of solar wind gas abundance of various types of agglutinates various measures of grain size and is feo among the changes attendant with space exposure are striking changes in the optical characteristics of soils mature lunar soils are dark red and exhibit reduced spectral contrast relative to immature soils this paper presents an optical maturity index that quantifies the spectral effects of maturation we show that this optical maturity index correlates with other maturity indices about as well as the accepted maturity indices correlate among themselves and is only weakly coupled to composition the modest correlations among maturity indices suggest important controls on individual maturity indices other than age uncorrelated variations in the rates of accumulation of individual indicators or variations in depths over which indicators are emplaced in addition to mixing these effects conspire to reduce the equivalence of maturity and duration of surface exposure optical maturity illustrates some of these effects showing that ejecta of large and small craters mature at different rates and that the interiors and ejecta of large craters exhibit systematically different optical maturities the same or analogous effects are likely to influence other maturity indices

evidence for ultra cold traps and surface water ice in the lunar south polar crater amundsen abstract the northern floor and wall of amundsen crater near the lunar south pole is a permanently shaded region psr previous study of this area using data from the lunar orbiter laser altimeter lola diviner and lamp instruments aboard lunar reconnaissance orbiter lro shows a spatial correlation between brighter 1064 nm albedo annual maximum surface temperatures low enough to enable persistence of surface water ice we find features in far ir emissivity 50 400 m could be attributed to either or a combination of two effects i differential regolith emissive behavior between permanently shadowed temperature regimes and those of normally illuminated polar terrain perhaps related to presence of water frost as indicated in other studies or ii high degrees of anisothermality within observation fields of view caused by doubly shaded areas within the psr target that are colder than observed brightness temperatures the implications in both cases are compelling the far ir emissivity curve of lunar cold traps may provide a metric for the abundance of micro cold traps that are ultra cool i e shadowed also from secondary and higher order radiation absorption and re radiation or scattering by surrounding terrain or for emissive properties consistent with the presence of surface water ice

isotopic evidence for distinct crustal sources of north and south range ores sudbury igneous complex lead isotope ratios were measured on fe cu ni sulphide ores and associated silicate phases from nine mines on the north and south ranges of the sudbury igneous complex sic these data are compared with the lead isotope signatures of country rocks and shock melted sudbury breccias around the complex both ore and feldspar data from the south range fall along a 1 85 ga reference line the age of the igneous complex and indicate a magmatic origin for lead in the ore data from the north range are also consistent with a magmatic origin but are displaced to lower 206pb 204pb and 207pb 204pb ratios these two suites fall close to the lead isotope composition of country rocks adjacent to the south and north ranges respectively furthermore there is a close correspondence between lead signatures of the sic and sudbury breccia on each side of the complex the evidence suggests an origin for the sic by shock melting of different crustal units on the two sides of the complex this is consistent with the impact of a meteorite on the southward thickening apron of huronian strata which overlay the margin of the superior craton at 1 85 ga

tectono thermal evolution of deep crust in a mesoproterozoic continental collision setting the manicouagan example high pressure metamorphic rocks in continental collision belts provide important information on the orogenic evolution of deep crust in the grenville province a prime example is the manicouagan imbricate zone miz a mesoproterozoic crustal section that was metamorphosed up to 1800 mpa and 850 950 c at 1050 ma high tempera tures and the presence of synmetamorphic within plate tholeiitic gabbro intrusion in the miz attest to thermal perturba tion during burial and emplacement of mantle derived melts consistent with thinning of lithospheric mantle subsequently the miz was extruded by a combination of northwest directed thrusting over a crustal scale ramp and ex tension at higher crustal levels in the middle miz extension was coeval with thrusting but perpendicular to the thrust direction and was apparently controlled by ductility contrasts between slices in contrast the highest levels show evi dence of southeast directed extension i e of opposite sense to the thrust direction that postdated thrusting within the miz this episode was followed by renewed northwest directed thrusting of medium pressure mesoproterozoic units over the miz and then by final southeast directed extension overall configuration of the miz was achieved between 1040 990 ma and is consistent with outward propagation of the orogen alternating periods of thrusting and exten sion displacement are a likely result of adjustments permitting maintenance of dynamic equilibrium within the advanc ing stack the tectonothermal characteristics of the miz allow comparison between the grenville province and younger thermally perturbed orogens i e variscan belt and may be the final product of a tibetan plateau style evo lution

u pb geochronology of apatite and zircon from the brent impact structure canada a late ordovician sandbian katian boundary event associated with l chondrite parent body disruption in situ la icp ms u pb geochronology has been performed on apatite and zircon within thermally recrystallized clast laden and clast poor impact melt rocks from the brent impact structure a total of 377 laser analyses on 120 impact melt grown n 9 and impact recrystallized zircon grains n 111 were obtained from which a concordia age of 452 8 2 7 ma mswd 0 57 n 11 and a weighted average mean 206pb 238u age of 453 2 2 9 ma mswd 0 60 n 11 are calculated a total of 300 laser analyses from 100 relict apatite grains were obtained with an unanchored regression through all data yielding a lower intercept age of 453 2 6 0 ma mswd 5 8 n 300 that overlaps within error of zircon 207pb 206pb ratios obtained from feldspar clasts within clast laden impact melt retain the same initial pb composition as the target rocks from which they are derived while feldspars that crystallized from impact melt have 207pb 206pb ratios indicative of isotopic re equilibration between basement lithologies of two different ages a similar variability in 207pb 206pb is recorded by apatite this provides evidence for the involvement of neoproterozoic lake nipissing alkaline suite as well as mesoproterozoic grenville gneisses in the production of impact melt at brent recrystallized apatite grains exhibit enrichments in light rare earth elements lrees along neoblast grain boundaries indicative of trace element substitution and phase precipitation during impact induced recrystallization an age of 452 8 2 7 ma from zircon and 453 2 6 0 ma from apatite places the impact event in the late ordovician at or near the sandbian katian boundary confirming brent s involvement in the middle to late ordovician crater cluster event a period of enhanced impactor flux to earth related to the l chondrite parent body disruption

the melt rocks of the boltysh impact crater ukraine ussr the 100 12 m y 25 km diameter boltysh impact crater was formed in precambrian granites and granite gneisses of the ukrainian shield the crater deposits have undergone minimal post impact erosion and it is possible to study a complete vertical section of the underlying 200 m thick melt sheet the melt rocks as sampled in two drill holes can be subdivided into two major textural classes microcrystalline and glassy the microcrystalline melt rocks form an uppermost and two lowermost units with the glassy variety occupying the middle of the melt sheet the microcrystalline units contain 25 zoned plagioclase phenocrysts set in a microcrystalline matrix of intergrown alkali feldspar and quartz pyroxene has been replaced by sheet silicates mineral and lithic clasts make up 5 15 and show varying degrees of shock and resorption the glassy melt rocks are characterized by 10 30 zoned plagioclase and 5 10 orthopyroxene set in a fresh to partially devitrified glassy matrix clast content is 5 chemically the melt rocks are relatively homogeneous and correspond to a mixture of kirovograd granites and gneisses in the ratio of 5 to 1 with ni ir and cr showing slight enrichments over the target rocks there are minor differences in the fe2o3 feo ratio and the alkalis between the microcrystalline and glassy varieties the increase in matrix crystallinity at the upper and lower contacts is contrary to observations at other impact melt sheets where greater matrix crystallinity occurs in the interiors of the melt sheets one possible explanation is that the melt matrix was originally glassy throughout due to its high sio2 content and the microcrystalline matrix is the result of extensive devitrification involving minor alkali exchange with circulating ground waters

role of membrane stresses in the support of planetary topography the principal purpose of this paper is to examine whether membrane stresses can support topographic loads on planetary elastic lithospheres it is found that the ability of a spherical shell to support loads through membrane stresses is determined by the nondimensional parameter ed gr2 where d is the thickness of the elastic lithosphere is the density difference between the mantle and crust and r is the radius of the planetary body when this parameter is large membrane stresses can fully support topographic loads without flexure and when it is small the influence of membrane stresses can be neglected solutions of the equation governing the behavior of a spherical shell are obtained for a topographic load expressed in terms of spherical harmonics spherical harmonic expansions of the measured gravity and topography for mars and the moon are compared with the theory it is found that for mars the support of topography is primarily due to membrane stresses for n 8 and for the moon for n 17 for mars the data for 4 n 7 give 0 5 for the moon the data have considerable scatter that is attributed to the mascons but generally correlate with 0 5 if bending stresses are neglected the governing equation for the deflection of the spherical shell is legendre s equation a general solution is obtained for an axisymmetric load this solution is applied to the tharsis region on mars the 60 65 compensation of this region requires that 0 6 the well defined fracture pattern surrounding the tharsis region is attributed to tensional membrane stresses

the sudbury igneous complex a differentiated impact melt sheet the sudbury structure ontario is the remnant of a 1 85 ga old impact crater which originally had a diameter of 200 to 250 km the sudbury igneous complex occurs within the sudbury structure the sudbury igneous complex is a 2 5 to 3 0 km thick 60 27 km elliptical igneous rock body which consists of four major lithologies from top to bottom traditionally termed granophyre quartz gabbro norite and contact sublayer sulfide and inclusion bearing noritic rock with the exception of the latter all these lithologies are continuous across the structure modal analyses reveal that following the iugs system of nomenclature quartz gabbro samples are in fact quartz monzogabbros a few of the norite samples are quartz gabbros and most norite samples are quartz monzogabbros in view of these observations and in order to clarify the nomenclature an updated terminology is proposed from top to bottom upper unit middle unit lower unit and contact sublayer the bulk composition of the sudbury igneous complex from north range data is granodioritic continuous and gradational mineralogical and geochemical variations between the lithological units are evidence that the complex behaved as a single melt system all the sudbury igneous complex lithologies have the same light to heavy rare earth element ree ratio and an overall pattern of increased light ree and depleted heavy ree the occurrence of primary hydrous minerals hornblende and biotite deuteric alteration and abundant micrographic and granophyric intergrowths demonstrate that the melt was rich in h2o moreover the granophyric and other far from equilibrium textures are most likely due to rapid crystallization triggered by exsolution of a volatile phase the sudbury igneous complex differs from traditional layered mafic complexes in the following aspects it has an overall intermediate composition a hydrous nature a crustal isotopic signature normative corundum and an unusually large volume of granophyre the sudbury complex differs from known terrestrial impact melt sheets only by its great thickness and the presence of chemical and therefore mineralogical layering reported here for the first time and similar to those found in impact melt rocks elsewhere are the occurrences of plagioclase xenocrysts with complex twinning and zoning patterns and planar deformation features in quartz xenocrysts the well known ore deposits of the sudbury region are directly related to the genesis of the sudbury igneous complex some ores precipitated from the sudbury melt whereas others were concentrated by hydrothermal fluids that percolated through the crystallized complex it is concluded that the sudbury igneous complex is the best exposed and only well documented to date terrestrial impact melt sheet to have differentiated

lunar equatorial surface temperatures and regolith properties from the diviner lunar radiometer experiment 1 the diviner lunar radiometer experiment onboard the lunar reconnaissance orbiter has measured solar reflectance and mid infrared radiance globally over four diurnal cycles at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution these data are used to infer the radiative and bulk thermophysical properties of the near surface regolith layer at all longitudes around the equator normal albedos are estimated from solar reflectance measurements normal spectral emissivities relative to the 8 m christiansen feature are computed from brightness temperatures and used along with albedos as inputs to a numerical thermal model model fits to daytime temperatures require that the albedo increase with solar incidence angle measured nighttime cooling is remarkably similar across longitude and major geologic units consistent with the scarcity of rock exposures and with the widespread presence of a near surface layer whose physical structure and thermal response are determined by pulverization through micrometeoroid impacts nighttime temperatures are best fit using a graded regolith model with a 40 increase in bulk density and an eightfold increase in thermal conductivity adjusted for temperature occurring within several centimeters of the surface

temperature time paths in the high p manicouagan imbricate zone eastern grenville province abstract the manicouagan imbricate zone miz eastern grenville province is a series of lithotectonic units assembled from different crustal levels during the grenvillian orogeny structural evidence along with u pb dating suggests that two separate stages of metamorphism occurred at ca 1050 and 1020 ma respectively the first stage is characterised by high pressure and temperature high pt metamorphism up to eclogite facies with a range of maximum recorded pressures between 14 and 20 kbar consistent with variations in burial depth maximum t conditions recorded from apparently different structural levels are rather similar 800 900 c suggesting high heat flow during eclogite facies metamorphism evidence of high temperatures 700 800 c recorded during the early stage of tectonic exhumation indicate near isothermal decompression the second stage is a high t event coeval with the emplacement of syn metamorphic granite and is recorded by rocks in the upper most tectonic slice boundary zone in the south east miz this event may also be responsible for amphibolite facies overprinting across the rest of the miz using the u pb and pt data sets along with published diffusion rates for pb in monazite titanite and rutile tt paths have been modelled for several of the lithotectonic units in most of the units suggested cooling rates appear to have been relatively fast during initial exhuamtion but show a prolonged period of slower cooling 5 10 c ma for 30 40 ma apparently at odds with the steep near isothermal pt paths preservation of eclogitic textures and preservation of garnet zoning in the highest grade rocks on the other hand in the boundary zone the recorded cooling rates are much faster 20 c ma indicative of tectonic exhumation this phase of rapid cooling in the boundary zone corresponds in time with the slow cooling rates at 1030 1000 ma in the rest of the miz thus thrusting of the boundary zone over the rest of the miz appears to have caused a thermal overprint which was superimposed on the tt paths taken as a whole the tt paths for the miz are interpreted as representing two separate metamorphic events which were both relatively short in duration

reorientation of sputnik planitia implies a subsurface ocean on pluto to explain the position of the sputnik planitia basin on pluto the feature would need to have formed via impact and pluto would need to have a subsurface ocean the present location of sputnik planitia the prominent deep icy basin on pluto is close to one of the longitudes of the dwarf planet s tidal axis by analogy with other large basins in the solar system it is thought to be an impact feature although reorientation arising from tidal and rotational torques can explain the present day location of the basin it requires the feature to be a positive gravity anomaly despite its negative topography francis nimmo et al argue that if sputnik planitia formed via impact and if pluto possesses a subsurface ocean a positive gravity anomaly would naturally result because of shell thinning and ocean uplift followed by later modest nitrogen deposition this is one of four papers on the geology of sputnik planitia in this issue of nature in news views amy barr puts these latest contributions into context the deep nitrogen covered basin on pluto informally named sputnik planitia is located very close to the longitude of pluto s tidal axis1 and may be an impact feature2 by analogy with other large basins in the solar system3 4 reorientation5 6 7 of sputnik planitia arising from tidal and rotational torques can explain the basin s present day location but requires the feature to be a positive gravity anomaly7 despite its negative topography here we argue that if sputnik planitia did indeed form as a result of an impact and if pluto possesses a subsurface ocean the required positive gravity anomaly would naturally result because of shell thinning and ocean uplift followed by later modest nitrogen deposition without a subsurface ocean a positive gravity anomaly requires an implausibly thick nitrogen layer exceeding 40 kilometres to prolong the lifetime of such a subsurface ocean to the present day8 and to maintain ocean uplift a rigid conductive water ice shell is required because nitrogen deposition is latitude dependent9 nitrogen loading and reorientation may have exhibited complex feedbacks7

impact and volcanism a momentum scaling law for erosion the controversy that raged through the 1950s 1970s over similarities and differences between meteorite impact and volcanic processes is revisited in this paper we propose that there are quantitative similarities in erosion caused by high speed ejecta produced by either impacts or volcanic processes field and petrographic data from the manicouagan impact crater canada are used to demonstrate that during the emplacement of the impact melt sheet erosion occurred at a rate of 2562 kg m 2 s 1 field data for the mount st helens lateral blast of may 18 1980 suggest an erosion rate of 2 kg m 2 s 1 and field data for a small pyroclastic flow on august 7 1980 suggest an erosion rate of 14 kg m s 1 it is proposed that these three rates were determined dominantly by the momentum of the ejecta and a quantitative formulation based on lofting theory is given a new application of the monte carlo approach to analysis provides minimum most likely and maximum estimates for both the field and the theoretical analyses the substantial erosion that occurs by fast moving flows results in mixing of stratigraphic components over large distances and to very fine scales

terrestrial impact melt rocks and glasses abstract the effects of meteorite and comet impact on earth are rock brecciation the formation of shock metamorphic features rock melting and the formation of impact structures i e simple craters complex craters and multi ring basins large events such as the 65 ma chicxulub impact are believed to have had catastrophic environmental effects that profoundly influenced the development of life on earth in this review an attempt is made to summarize some of the voluminous literature on impact melting one important aspect of planetary impact provide some comments on this process and to make suggestions for future research the products of impact melting are glasses impact melt rocks and pseudotachylites our treatise deals mainly with the geological setting petrography and major element chemistry of melt rocks and glasses impact glasses in several petrographic aspects are similar to volcanic glasses but they are associated with shock metamorphosed mineral and rock fragments and in places with siderophile element anomalies suggestive of meteoritic contamination they are found in allogenic breccia deposits within fall back suevite and outside fall out suevite impact craters and as spherules in distal ejecta large events such as the k t boundary chicxulub impact are responsible for the formation of worldwide ejecta horizons which are associated with siderophile element anomalies and shock metamorphosed mineral and rock debris impact glasses have a bulk chemical composition that is homogeneous but exemptions to this rule are common on a microscopic scale however impact glasses are commonly strikingly heterogeneous tektites are glasses ejected from craters over large distances they are characterized by very low water and volatile contents and element abundances and ratios that are evidence that tektites formed by melting of upper crustal sedimentary rocks four tektite strewn fields are known three of which can be tied to specific impact craters impact melt rocks form sheets lenses and dike like bodies within or beneath allogenic fallback breccia deposits in the impact crater and possibly on crater terraces and flanks dikes of impact melt rocks also intrude the rocks of the crater floor they commonly contain shock metamorphosed target rock and mineral fragments in various stages of assimilation and are glassy or fine to coarse grained chemically they are strikingly homogeneous but as with impact glasses exemptions to this rule do exist large and thick melt bodies such as the sudbury igneous complex sic are differentiated or may represent a combination of impact melt rocks sensu strictu and impact triggered deep crustal melts a concerted multidisciplinary approach to future research on impact melting and on other aspects of meteorite and comet impact is advocated impact models are models only and uncritical reliance on their validity will not lead to a better understanding of impact processes especially of melting excavation and deposition of allogenic breccias and the spatial position of breccias in relation to sheets and lenses of melt rocks within the crater impact triggered pressure release melting of target rocks beneath the excavation cavity may be responsible for the existence of melt rocks beneath the impact melt rocks sensu strictu this controversial idea needs to be tested by a re evaluation of existing data and models be they based on field or laboratory research only a relatively small number of terrestrial impact structures has been investigated in sufficient detail as it relates to geological and geophysical mapping in this review we summarize observations made on impact melt rocks and impact glasses in a number of north american brent haughton manicouagan new quebec sudbury wanapitei all in canada asian popigai russia zhamanshin kazakhstan two south african structures morokweng and vredefort the henbury crater field of australia and one european crater ries germany our tables listing major element chemical compositions of impact glasses and melt rocks however include also data from structures not dealt with in further detail

formation age of the lunar crater giordano bruno using the terrain camera onboard the japanese lunar explorer selene kaguya we obtained new high resolution images of the 22 kilometer diameter lunar crater giordano bruno based on crater size frequency measurements of small craters 200 m in diameter superposed on its continuous ejecta the formation age of giordano bruno is estimated to be 1 to 10 ma this is constructive evidence against the craters medieval age formation hypothesis

topography of the northern hemisphere of mercury from messenger laser altimetry laser altimetry by the messenger spacecraft has yielded a topographic model of the northern hemisphere of mercury the dynamic range of elevations is considerably smaller than those of mars or the moon the most prominent feature is an extensive lowland at high northern latitudes that hosts the volcanic northern plains within this lowland is a broad topographic rise that experienced uplift after plains emplacement the interior of the 1500 km diameter caloris impact basin has been modified so that part of the basin floor now stands higher than the rim the elevated portion of the floor of caloris appears to be part of a quasi linear rise that extends for approximately half the planetary circumference at mid latitudes collectively these features imply that long wavelength changes to mercury s topography occurred after the earliest phases of the planet s geological history

global silicate mineralogy of the moon from the diviner lunar radiometer we obtained direct global measurements of the lunar surface using multispectral thermal emission mapping with the lunar reconnaissance orbiter diviner lunar radiometer experiment most lunar terrains have spectral signatures that are consistent with known lunar anorthosite and basalt compositions however the data have also revealed the presence of highly evolved silica rich lunar soils in kilometer scale and larger exposures expanded the compositional range of the anorthosites that dominate the lunar crust and shown that pristine lunar mantle is not exposed at the lunar surface at the kilometer scale together these observations provide compelling evidence that the moon is a complex body that has experienced a diverse set of igneous processes

pressurized oceans and the eruption of liquid water on europa and enceladus 1 it is difficult for liquid water to erupt onto the surface of icy satellites such as europa and enceladus because liquid water is more dense than ice if the ice shell thickens the volume expansion of ice upon freezing increases pressure in the subsurface ocean the excess pressure is determined by a balance between compression of ocean water and elastic expansion of the ice shell we show that on europa the freezing of 1 10 km of ice generates tangential stresses that exceed the tensile strength of ice excess pressure however is insufficient for liquid water to erupt to the surface within smaller icy satellites such as enceladus ocean pressure can become large enough to cause an eruption of large amounts of liquid water

contrasting meteoritic signatures within the clearwater east and clearwater west impact structures the view from osmium isotopes abstract osmium isotopes provide a powerful tool for identifying meteoritic signatures in impactites we apply the osmium isotope method to impact melt and country rocks from the clearwater east and clearwater west craters located in quebec canada impact melts from clearwater east have 187 os 188 os ratios of 0 1281 0 1285 these values indicate a significant meteoritic component which exceeds that in impact melts at all terrestrial craters studied to date except morokweng such findings align with earlier results from chromium isotopes and platinum group elements in contrast impact melts from clearwater west have 187 os 188 os ratios between 6 604 and 59 12 these highly radiogenic ratios are indistinguishable from the 187 os 188 os ratios in country rocks hence osmium isotopes provide no evidence for a meteoritic component in impact melts at clearwater west the clearwater craters formed in almost identical targets therefore target effects cannot readily explain the stark difference between the two clearwater craters if melt sheet heterogeneity is similar at the two craters the probability that melts at clearwater west host an undetected chondritic component is 1 may best explain the unusually strong meteoritic signature although the signature or its nondetection at each crater may be related to asymmetric preservation of the impactor component the results presented here provide further evidence that clearwater east and clearwater west were temporally separate impact events

impact history of eros craters and boulders abstract preliminary measurements of craters and boulders have been made in various locations on eros from images acquired during the first nine months of near shoemaker s orbital mission including the october 2000 low altitude flyover we offer some very preliminary qualitative analysis of later laf images and very high resolution images obtained during near s landing on 12 february 2001 craters on eros 100 m diameter closely resemble the saturated crater population of ida eros is more heavily cratered than gaspra but lacks the saturated giant craters of mathilde these craters and the other large scale geological features were formed over a duration of very roughly 2 gyr while eros was in the main asteroid belt between the time when its parent body was disrupted and eros was injected into an earth approaching orbit probably tens of myr ago saturation equilibrium had been expected to shape eros crater population down to very small sizes as on the lunar maria however craters

reorientation of planets with elastic lithospheres abstract the orientation of a planet is controlled by the positions of the principal axes of the inertia tensor relative to the planetary surface using the theory for the deflection of thin elastic shells the principal axes are computed after emplacement of an arbitrary axisymmetrical load the partial compensation of the load and the partial relaxation of rotational flattening are included in the computation it is found that the amount of reorientation is independent of lithosphere thickness the parameters controlling the amount of reorientation are the location of the load and the size of the load compared to the rotational flattening the results indicate that the tharsis rise has probably reoriented mars by only 3 to 9 and certainly less that 18 the position of the caloris basin on mercury indicates that if the surrounding lava sheet controls the planetary orientation then the lava sheet is probably less than 2000 m thick

thermal evolution and interaction between impact melt sheet and footwall a genetic model for the contact sublayer of the sudbury igneous complex canada 1 the sudbury igneous complex sic and associated ni cu pge mineralization has been interpreted in terms of a large meteorite impact event in this study the thermal relationship between the large cooling melt sheet and the surrounding country rock is examined in terms of its role in an evolving thermal gradient rather than as a passive receptacle for the melt sheet above thermal modeling of this environment is undertaken using physical and thermal constraints appropriate to the sic and assuming heat dissipation from the 2 5 km thick superheated melt sheet 1800 c by either diffusion with zero convection or by rapid convection within the melt sheet with zero convection basal cooling produces a solid base which lowers conductivity such that the immediate footwall rocks reach 1000 c producing partial melting that extends 200 m into the footwall in a rapidly convecting melt sheet the initial footwall chill is remelted and high temperatures maintained within the sheet close to the contact this results in higher temperatures being attained in the immediate footwall 1100 1200 c inducing complete melting of proximal footwall and partial melting to depths of 500 m below the melt sheet proximal footwall consists of paleoproterozoic huronian basalts granitoids and sediments exposed in the south range overlying archaean gneisses and granitoids total and partial melting of this material early in the cooling history of the melt sheet and the subsequent gravitational accommodation of these melts according to density would produce a basalt dominated basal liquid corresponding to the so called contact sublayer the thermal aureole predicted by our models is consistent with that preserved around the north range of the sic assuming 800 m of thermally induced erosion at the contact

utopia and hellas basins mars twins separated at birth 1 using topography and gravity data as constraints we formulate spherical harmonic thin elastic shell models to determine the subsurface structure of the hellas and utopia basins for hellas we show that our model is consistent with the elastic thickness results of mcgovern et al 2002 2004 the thin elastic lithosphere at the time of formation implies that hellas is close to isostatic since utopia formed earlier we argue that an isostatic assumption is justified for the utopia basin before it was filled from this supposition we derive a system of equations that allows us to solve for the amount of fill the prefill topography and the amount of flexure due to the fill within the utopia basin an analysis of the parameter space shows that the fill density and the amount of fill is strongly dependent on the elastic thickness at the time of infilling a thinner elastic lithosphere favors a denser fill while a thicker lithosphere will allow for less dense material likewise larger crustal thickness values lead to smaller fill density values the presence of quasi circular depressions interpreted as impact craters within the utopia basin indicates that the majority of the material within utopia was deposited prior to 4 04 4 11 ga the early timing for the deposition combined with the heat imparted by the basin forming event argues for a thinner lithosphere which could in turn suggest fill densities that are more consistent with a volcanic load than with pure sediment or ice rich material these results are supported using an alternative method of determining the amount of fill and flexure within utopia this model assumes that hellas and utopia were initially identical and that the only difference in their subsequent evolution was the addition of material in the utopia basin the volume of material needed to fill utopia is immense on the order of 50 million km3 or more the high density obtained for the fill requires that it contain a large igneous component the source of which is problematic relaxing the isostatic assumption to a reasonable degree perturbs the density bound only slightly

geochemistry and petrography of impact breccias and target rocks from the 145 ma morokweng impact structure south africa morokweng is a large 145 ma impact structure in the northwest province of south africa the impact origin of this structure and its melt rock has been confirmed by ample evidence of shock metamorphism in clasts within the melt rock and samples from granitoid basement below the melt body the age of this structure is indistinguishable from the biostratigraphic age of the jurassic cretaceous j k boundary the size of morokweng for which diameters ranging from 70 to 165 kilometers have been quoted before and which has important implications regarding its relation to the j k boundary remains an open question here we present new results of a detailed petrographic and chemical investigation of impact melt rock and country rock samples the granophyric melt rock is mostly unaltered and contains a large number of gabbroic and felsic clasts the occurrence of baddeleyite formed from high temperature dissociation of primary zircon indicates a high temperature origin the impact melt rock body which in the cores investigated here has a thickness of at least 120 m shows no statistically significant variation or trend in chemical composition with depth or geographic location chemical data for impact melt rock breccia dike vein breccia samples granite quartzite and basic to mafic clasts were used in harmonic least squares mixing calculations to determine the source rock types and their proportions involved in the formation of the impact melt rock granite is the dominant target rock component 50 to 63 by weight depending on target composition input to the mixing models with significant 35 to 50 mafic contributions and a possible minor contribution of quartzite new platinum group element ru rh pd os ir and pt re and au data as well as data for other siderophile elements cr co ni and ir confirm the presence of up to 5 of a chondritic component in the melt rock the indigenous contribution of the pges from the target rocks is negligible normalized pge abundance patterns and interelement ratios of morokweng impact melt rock indicate that the projectile was likely of ordinary chondritic possibly l chondrite composition but the choice of the meteoritic compositional data influences this interpretation

homogeneous impact melts produced by a heterogeneous target sr nd isotopic evidence from the popigai crater russia the 35 7 0 2 ma old popigai crater siberia with a diameter of about 100 km is one of the best preserved large terrestrial impact structures the heterogeneous target at the impact site consists of archean to lower proterozoic metamorphic rocks of the crystalline basement upper proterozoic quartzites and other clastic deposits as well as cambrian to cretaceous clastic sediments and sedimentary rocks including carbonate rocks moreover proterozoic and permo triassic dolerite dykes are found in the target area we report major element sr and nd isotope data for 13 of these target rocks and for various types of impactites the 15 analysed impactite samples include tagamites impact melt rocks suevites and impact glass from small veins furthermore two impact breccias and two impact glass coated gneiss bombs were analysed we discuss the relation of these impactites to the target lithologies and evaluate on the basis of literature data the relation of microkrystites and associated microtektites in upper eocene sediments to the popigai event the impactites have sio2 abundances ranging from 59 to 66 wt and show significant variations in the content of fe ca and ti they have present day 87sr 86sr ratios between 0 7191 and 0 7369 their sr model ages tsrur range from 1 9 to 2 3 ga the 143nd 144nd ratios for the impactite samples cluster between 0 5113 and 0 5115 the nd model ages tndchur range from 1 9 to 2 1 ga in an echur nd eur sr diagram the impactites and upper eocene microkrystites and associated microtektites plot in a field delimited by popigai target lithologies the impactites are restricted to the field of crystalline basement rocks and upper proterozoic quartzites but they show different isotopic signatures in different crater sectors impactites and upper eocene microkrystites plot in different only partly overlapping clusters the leucocratic microkrystites and microtektites have a higher affinity to the post proterozoic rocks in the target area than the impactites seemingly the melanocratic microkrystites originated mostly from crystalline basement this data alignment supports the assumption that popigai is the source crater for all three types of ejecta for the first time clear relations are established of the geochemically variable upper eocene microkrystites and associated microtektites to specific target lithologies at popigai crater finally the observed range in sr and nd isotope parameters determined for impact melt lithologies that originated during the popigai event show a much higher variability than known from other craters this result indicates that mixing of impact melt which later formed tagamite sheets and glass particles in different impact breccias was incomplete at the time of ejecta dispersal

pristine impact crater morphology on pluto expectations for new horizons abstract this paper combines previous cratering studies and numerical modeling of the impact process at different impact velocities to predict crater morphology on pluto as an icy body pluto s craters are expected to be similar in morphology to those on the icy satellites lesser depth diameter ratios d d shallower wall slopes and the development of central uplifts in craters of smaller rim to rim diameter than craters on rocky bodies of similar gravity the low impact velocity of the pluto system 2 km s 1 might cause deviation from this generalization as the simulations presented in this work suggest that decreasing impact velocity from 10 km s 1 to 2 km s 1 results in deeper craters larger d d and a simple to complex transition diameter at larger crater sizes than predicted based on gravity scaling alone d 6 km conversely decreasing impact velocity from 2 km s 1 to 300 m s 1 produced smaller d d akin to the lower d d noted for secondary craters this complex relationship between impact velocity and d d suggests that there might be a larger range of pristine simple crater depths on pluto than on bodies with higher mean impact velocity the low impact velocities and correspondingly low volumes of impact melt generated at pluto might prevent the occurrence or limit the size of floor pits if their formation involves impact melt water the presence or not of central floor pit craters on pluto will thus provide a valuable test of floor pit formation theories the presence of summit pits or concentric craters on pluto is plausible and would indicate the presence of layering in the near sub surface palimpsests multi ring basins and other crater morphologies associated with high heat flow are not expected and would have important implications for pluto s thermal history if observed by new horizons