Age Determination of Lunar Geological Units by KAGUYA(SELENE)/LISM

Abstract

Dating of geological units of planetary surfaces is one of the most important subjects of planetary science for understanding a origin and evolution of the planet. Based on the simple idea that older surfaces accumulate more craters, we can infer ages of units by measuring the crater frequencies with remote-sensing image data. In this study, we evaluate the statistical fluctuation of the crater frequency and its effect on age determination using a Monte Carlo simulation prior to the SELENE (KAGUYA) / Terrain Camera acquiring extensive high-resolution images over the entire Moon.