Spectral mapping of morphological features on the moon with MGM and SAM

Abstract

Three types of morphological features observed in different lunar crustal terrains were studied and mapped using hyperspectral Moon mineralogy mapper (M3) data onboard Chandrayaan 1 mission in order to assess the utility of cascaded MGM-SAM spectral mixture modeling approach to characterize the surface materials, which may occur as mineral mixtures, at different topography of the lunar surface. Selected morphological features include: the impact melts in Orientale basin, sinuous rilles in Procellarum KREEP Terrane (PKT) and a rayed crater in Feldspathic Highland Terrane (FHT). Methodology involves extraction of spectrally pure pixels (endmembers) of the area using Pixel Purity Index (PPI), identification of mineralogy of the selected endmember spectrum using the Modified Gaussian Method (MGM) and mapping of mineralogically identified endmembers using the Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) method.Mapping results demonstrate both the capabilities and the limitations of the MGM method of spectral deconvolution and the SAM method of spectral matching as effective tools for compositional characterizations of morphological features on the lunar surface. As a method of spectral deconvolution, MGM was able to identify and characterize both high- and low – Ca pyroxenes along with plagioclase feldspar. The Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) was able to map identified mineral mixtures from MGM.