Scientists map the geological features of the Moon’s Oriental Basin

“We think this planet is about 3.8 billion years old. The planet is still young enough that impact melt is newly exposed on the surface, but large impact craters have accumulated on it. It is also very old, which complicates the situation.”

“We decided to map Orientale to test melt identification strategies for older, degraded impact basins that we would like to date.”

The researchers used BFsc (an abbreviation for smooth and cracked basin flooring) to map the original, uncontaminated impact melt from the Oriental Basin formation.

These rocks record the age of the basin, and some of this molten deposits may have been buried beneath other geological units, such as the lava flows mapped in red.

The stars mark the rim and debris of a small impact crater that unearthed previously buried Oriental melt.

Therefore, if rocks from a starred location are found to be the same age as rocks from the BFsc region, geologists can rely on rocks from similar small craters in other, more degraded basins to We know that we can record the age of a basin’s formation.

“Now that our mapping method can be used in other impact basins on the Moon, future sample return missions will incorporate this approach by sampling rocks from areas similar to those highlighted on the map. We hope this can be tested,” the authors said.

“If the samples collected from any of the asterisked areas on the map are of the same age as the samples collected from the BFsc area, which shows the original impact melt, then we can apply the impact melt sampling technique to other basins. I am confident that it can be applied to