Abstract
Lunar craters, ranging in diameter from 40 to 180 km, are believed to have exhumed material from 5-30 km beneath the surface to the peaks. We analyzed the central peaks of craters, which located three major lunar crustal terranes and classified lithologies of central peaks using Clementine UVVIS five-color spectra. We estimated crustal structure and geological settings based on the results.As a similar study, Tompkins and Pieters investigated the central peaks of 109 impact craters across the Moon and classified lithologies of central peaks using Clementine UVVIS five-color spectra. Although our method is basically same as theirs, we analyzed not only central peaks but also their surroundings. The obtained map suggests that, within Feldspathic Highland Terrane, the materials at higher latitude tend to show colors indicating more mafic lithology. We postulate two hypotheses. One is that the color change is caused by the change of lithology itself. Another is that the color change is caused by the change of phase angle of sunlight. We present two crustal structure models based on these two hypotheses.
