Minerals mapping of the lunar surface with Clementine UVVIS/NIR data based on spectra unmixing method and Hapke model

Abstract

The distribution of minerals on the lunar surface is information which could contribute to studying lunar origin and evolution. In this paper, the distribution of clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, olivine, ilmenite, and plagioclase on the lunar surface has been mapped based on Hapke radiative transfer model and linear unmixing of spectra with Clementine UVVIS/NIR data. The results have been validated on the basis of minerals modal abundance data of the Apollo samples, and problems in the minerals abundance mapping have been analyzed. The validation based on analysis data of Apollo samples indicates that plagioclase mapped in this paper represents the total abundance of plagioclase and agglutinitic glass. The minerals mapping results show that the lunar surface is mainly composed of pyroxene, plagioclase, agglutinitic glass, and ilmenite. Basalt in the lunar mare is mainly composed of clinopyroxene and ilmenite, and lunar highland is mainly composed of plagioclase and agglutinitic glass. Orthopyroxene is mainly distributed on the north of Mare Imbrium, on the south of Maria and Aitken Basin. According to our results, there is probably no large area of olivine distribution on the lunar surface which is different from earlier published results. Therefore, emphasis should be put on the olivine distribution in the minerals mapping using hyperspectral data such as M 3 of Chandrayaan-1 and IIM of ChangE-1.