基于撞击坑自动识别的月球雨海北部地区(LQ-4)月海玄武岩定年研究

月球表面定年研究对于理解和重建月球地质演化历史具有关键作用,撞击坑尺寸-频率分布法(CS-FD)是通过统计区域内不同尺寸撞击坑密度得到特定地质单元的绝对地质年龄。雨海北部地区(LQ-4)包括雨海北部、冷海西部地区以及风暴洋东北部等月海,位于雨海西北边缘的虹湾是中国嫦娥三号卫星预选软着落区,文中综合使用3种方法从影像和地形数据中自动提取了该区内的撞击坑。利用Clementine光谱数据对雨海北部和风暴洋东北部内玄武岩进行了分区,利用撞击坑尺寸-频度法(CSFD)法得到每个玄武岩分区内的定年结果。对比该地区之前的定年数据后发现,使用自动识别结果得到的各分区定年结果新老整体趋势上与之前研究结果基本一致,但存在一定偏差。根据自动识别定年结果,认为该地区玄武岩新老顺序大致为:雨海东部(3.56Ga)—虹湾(3.38Ga)—风暴洋东北部(2.74Ga)—雨海西部(2.63Ga)—柏拉图坑(2.37Ga)。结合撞击坑自动识别技术和CSFD法,形成了一条利用影像和地形遥感数据快速得到月球表面地质年龄的方法,为月球年代学研究提供一种新途径。

Progresses and prospects of impact crater studies

Crater is a geologic structure in solid bodies(including the terrestrial planets, moons, and asteroids) formed by hyperspeed impact, and the impact process is extremely important to the formation and evolution of these celestial bodies. This paper presents a review of the studies on remote sensing observation, formation mechanism, and scientific application of craters. On the remote sensing study of craters, the topographic characteristics of the micro-craters, simple craters, complex craters, and impact basins are described,the related parameters in the morphological studies of craters are subsequently introduced, and the distribution characteristics of the minerals and rock types during the impact excavation process are analyzed,the methods of crater identification and the crater databases on the Moon, Mars, Ceres, and Vesta are summarized. On the studies of crater formation mechanism, the general formation process of the craters is firstly described, and then the most frequently used methods are presented, and the importance of the empirical equations is also elucidated. On the scientific applications of the craters, the principle and currently utilization of the planetary surface dating method with crater size-frequency distribution are firstly presented, and the applications, including modeling the lunar regolith formation and thickness derivation of both the regolith and basalt, are reviewed. Finally, the future prospects of the formation mechanism study of the craters are discussed.

顾及月表铁元素含量的次生撞击坑识别

在对月表地质单元定年时,由于月球岩石、土壤和岩心样品数量有限,能够利用这些样品做同位素定年的地质单元范围很小,因此更大范围的月球表面的绝对年龄需要采用撞击坑尺寸频率定年法(crater sizefrequency distribution,CSFD)测定。然而月球表面次生撞击坑的存在会导致CSFD得到的定年结果出现偏差,故在标注撞击坑时有必要对次生撞击坑予以剔除,以便对行星表面的地质单元做较为准确的定年。提出一种顾及月表铁元素含量的次生撞击坑识别方法。使用波段比值法获取月表铁元素含量信息,以次生撞击坑内铁元素含量更接近月壤铁元素含量为假设前提,以撞击坑内与月壤的铁元素含量差值为判据分离主撞击坑和次生撞击坑。以日本月亮女神多光谱成像仪影像为实验数据,验证所提方法的有效性和稳健性。实验结果表明,在依据铁元素含量剔除次生撞击坑后的定年结果与已知定年结果之差小于0.1 Ga,具有较好的一致性;与其他次生撞击坑剔除方法相比,依据月表铁元素信息剔除次生撞击坑的结果更可靠。