Christiansen Feature Map From the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment: Improved Corrections and Derived Mineralogy
P. G. Lucey, B. T. Greenhagen, K. L. Donaldson Hanna, Neil E. Bowles, Abigail Flom, D. A. Paige
Abstract
Abstract Maps of plagioclase, olivine, and pyroxene at 1 km resolution are derived from a combination of data from the Diviner Lunar Radiometer on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Kaguya Multiband Imager. The Diviner instrument features three infrared bands designed to characterize a spectral feature of lunar soils that is sensitive to the average silica polymerization of the surface called the Christiansen Feature, which is directly sensitive to the presence of plagioclase, the dominant lunar silicate. Existing global mineral maps based on near‐IR data largely infer the presence of plagioclase from the bright mineral’s effect on total reflectance, excepting in rare locations where the surface is nearly pure plagioclase and a weak feature in the plagioclase near‐IR spectrum can be relied upon. By integrating both wavelength regions we produced more robust estimates of the abundance of the three dominant minerals. In the process of this work, we also improved the removal of space weathering effects from Christiansen Feature maps, and showed that silica rich compositional anomalies could be reliably detected by decorrelating Christiansen Feature and FeO maps. New silica‐rich locations are reported as are the global abundances of the three major silicates.