Detecting volcanic resurfacing of heavily cratered terrain: Flooding simulations on the Moon using Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) data

Early extrusive volcanism from mantle melting marks the transition from primary to secondary crust formation. Detection of secondary crust is often obscured by the high impact flux early in solar system history. To recognize the relationship between heavily cratered terrain and volcanic resurfacing, this study documents how volcanic resurfacing alters the impact cratering record and models the thickness, area, and volume of volcanic flood deposits. Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) data are used to analyze three different regions of the lunar highlands: the Hertzsprung basin; a farside heavily cratered region; and the central highlands. Lunar mare emplacement style is assumed to be similar to that of terrestrial flood basalts, involving large volumes of material extruded from dike-fed fissures over relatively short periods of time. Thus, each region was flooded at 0.5 km elevation intervals to simulate such volcanic flooding and to assess areal patterns, thickness, volumes, and emplacement history. These simulations show three primary stages of volcanic flooding: (1) Initial flooding is largely confined to individual craters and deposits are thick and localized; (2) basalt flows breach crater rim crests and are emplaced laterally between larger craters as thin widespread deposits; and (3) lateral spreading decreases in response to regional topographic variations and the deposits thicken and bury intermediate-sized and larger craters. Application of these techniques to the South Pole-Aitken basin shows that emplacement of ∼1−2 km of cryptomaria can potentially explain the paucity of craters 20–64 km in diameter on the floor of the basin relative to the distribution in the surrounding highlands.