Crustal thickness of the Moon: Implications for farside basin structures

Abstract

[1] Based on the latest SELENE lunar gravity and topography model obtained by Kaguya mission, we compute the lunar crustal thickness map to investigate differences between farside basin structures. The thickest crust is located in the southern rim of the Dirichlet-Jackson basin and the thinnest crust at the Moscoviense basin. The thickest crust corresponds to the highest topography and is consistent with Airy isostasy. The thinnest crust is due to an abnormally large mantle plug. The crustal thicknesses at Apollo 12/14 sites of our crustal thickness model are 45.1 and 49.9 km. The crustal thickness map indicates that the differences between recently proposed type I and type II basins are probably controlled by the ratio between pre-impact crustal thickness and impact scale. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.