Geologic setting of Apollo 16Prior to the Apollo 16 mission, the materials of the Cayley Plains and the Descartes Mountains were thought to be mostly of volcanic origin. Rock and soil samples from these regions strongly suggest, however, that they may be products of multiring basin forming impacts, although minor local volcanism is not precluded. The smooth planar surfaces may have been formed initially by Imbrium ejecta which flowed into topographic lows at the distal margins of the lineated Fra Mauro ejecta. It is emphasized, however, that the rocks and soils returned from the Apollo 16 site cannot necessarily be considered representative of the lunar crust in the Descartes region from which they were collected.
Document ID
19740040056
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Authors
Hodges, C. A. (U.S. Geological Survey Menlo Park, Calif., United States)
Muehlberger, W. R. (U.S. Geological Survey; Texas, University Austin, Tex., United States)
Ulrich, G. E. (U. S. Geological Survey Flagstaff, Ariz., United States)