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Volume 60

(Links to high-resolution, electronic files of the Color Plates published in the volume are listed below.)

New Views of the Moon

Bradley L. Jolliff, Mark A. Wieczorek, Charles K. Shearer, and Clive R. Neal, editors
(revised 10/03/2009)


The very successful orbital missions of the 1990's, Clementine and Lunar Prospector, provided key mineralogical, geochemical, and geophysical data sets that extended our view of the Moon beyond what we knew from Apollo and Luna exploration to a truly global perspective. These new data sets have been integrated with information gained from three preceding decades of study of lunar samples and older, less complete remotely sensed data sets. Although there have been no new lunar sample-return missions since Apollo and Luna, new samples are available in the form of meteorites, recognized to be pieces of the Moon. These, too, play a role in improved knowledge of the Moon and in helping to couple information obtained by remote sensing with information obtained from rock and soil samples. As we stand on the edge of a new era of lunar and planetary exploration, including new missions to the Moon, Mars, and other planets and moons, we find it essential to examine in depth how the wide variety of data sets obtained during the course of lunar exploration can be used together to better understand the formation of the Moon and how it evolved to its present state. Such an understanding holds important lessons for the new era of lunar exploration as well as the exploration of other planets in the Solar System. This will ultimately lead to better knowledge of how our own planet Earth - with its unique environment suitable for the origin and evolution of life - originated and changed with time.

This book assesses the current state of knowledge of lunar geoscience, given the data sets provided by missions of the 1990's, and lists remaining key questions as well as new ones for future exploration to address. It documents how a planet or moon other than the world on which we live can be studied and understood in light of integrated suites of specific kinds of information. The Moon is the only body other than Earth for which we have material samples of known geologic context for study. This book seeks to show how the different kinds of information gained about the Moon relate to each other and also to learn from this experience, thus allowing more efficient planning for the exploration of other worlds.

June 2006

Bradley L. Jolliff
Mark A. Wieczorek
Charles K. Shearer
Clive R. Neal

i-xxii and 772 pp. ISBN 093995072-3.

Contents of Volume 60

New Views of Lunar Geoscience: An Introduction and Overview
Chapter 1, pages 1-81 by Harald Hiesinger, James W. Head III

Understanding the Lunar Surface and Space-Moon Interactions
Chapter 2, pages 83-220 by Paul Lucey et al.

The Constitution and Structure of the Lunar Interior
Chapter 3, pages 221-364 by Mark A. Wieczorek et al.

Thermal and Magmatic Evolution of the Moon
Chapter 4, pages 365-518 by Charles K. Shearer et al.

Cratering History and Lunar Chronology
Chapter 5, pages 519-588 by Dieter Stoffler et al.

Development of the Moon
Chapter 6, pages 597-656 by Michael B. Duke et al.

Earth-Moon System, Planetary Science, and Lessons Learned
Chapter 7, pages 657-704 by S. Ross Taylor et al.

Color Plates of New Views of the Moon

The following is a list of color plates in Volume 60, New Views of the Moon, each with a link to a down-loadable, electronic high-resolution version.

  1. Plate 1.1. Model ages of mare basalts based on crater counts (11.7 MB)
  2. Plate 2.1. Map of concentrations of thorium on lunar near side (8.3 MB)
  3. Plate 2.2. Variation in regolith maturity with depth in Apollo cores (5.8 MB)
  4. Plate 2.3. Lunar Prospector GRS thorium at half-degree resolution (8.5 MB)
  5. Plate 2.4. Lunar Prospector GRS FeO at half-degree resolution (8.4 MB)
  6. Plate 2.5. Global map of thermal neutron flux measured by Lunar Prospector (8.5 MB)
  7. Plate 2.6. Global average atomic mass derived from LP neutron spectrometer (8.4 MB)
  8. Plate 2.7. Global map of samarium derived from LP neutron spectrometer (8.6 MB)
  9. Plate 2.8. Global epithermal neutron flux measured by the LP neutron spectrometer (8.6 MB)
  10. Plate 2.9. Global images of Clementine UV-VIS 750 nm, derived optical maturity, and derived plagioclase abundance (19.6 MB)
  11. Plate 2.10. Mineral maps of orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, and olivine derived from Clementine multispectral data (19.9 MB)
  12. Plate 2.11. Maps of epithermal neutrons for the north and south poles from the LP neutron spectrometer
  13. (3.7 MB)
  14. Plate 2.12. Spectrograph image showing Na emission lines from the lunar surface to 1800 km above the limb (4.9 MB)
  15. Plate 3.1. Radial gravity anomalies determined from the model LP150Q (7.6 MB)
  16. Plate 3.2. The geoid of the Moon determined from the model LP150Q (7.6 MB)
  17. Plate 3.3. Topography of the Moon determined from Clementine LIDAR(7.4 MB)
  18. Plate 3.4. Topography of the Moon (GLTM2c)referenced to the lunar geoid (LP150Q) (7.2 MB)
  19. Plate 3.5. Total crustal thickness of the Moon, Model 1, with crustal thickness at the Apollo 12 and 14 sites constrained to be 45 km (7.3 MB)
  20. Plate 3.6. Total crustal thickness of the Moon, Model 2, assuming that the degree-1 Bouguer anomaly is a result of lateral density variations (7.8 MB)
  21. Plate 3.7. Crustal thickness of the Moon, Model 3, dual-layer crust showing thickness of the upper crust and of the total crust (15.2 MB)
  22. Plate 3.8. Map showing location and lithologies of central peaks (4.4 MB)
  23. Plate 3.9. Anorthosite distribution shown on the Clementine 750 nm basemap (4.4 MB)
  24. Plate 3.10. Surface expressions of major lunar terranes inferred from global distribution of FeO and thorium (7.4MB)

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