Geology and deposits of the Serenitatis basin

The Serenitatis basin is prominent on the near side of the Moon, just east of Mare Imbrium. Originally thought to be one of the oldest lunar basins, re-interpretation of both geological relations and Apollo 17 isotopic data suggest instead that Serenitatis is one of the youngest basins, having formed in the Nectarian Period about 3.87 Ga ago. As part of our continuing effort to understand the geology of multi-ring basins on the Moon and to use basins as probes of the deep lunar crust, we here report results for the Serenitatis basin. Our examination of Serenitatis was stimulated in part by a new effort to re-examine the geology of the Apollo 17 landing site.