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Observations o f Mare Sereni t a t i s from lunar o r b i t

and t h e i r i n t e r p r e t a t i o n

FAROUK EL-BAZ
National Air and Space Museum
Smi thsonian I n s t i t u t i o n , Washington, D.C. 20560

and
R, E, EVARS
Astronaut Office
Johnson Space Cmter, Houston, Texas 770W

Abstract: Visual observations of calm differences of S e r e n i t a t i s marc

materials fmn o r b i t carrplemnt photography and o m r e m t e l y set.s&
data. The l i g h t tan gray inner f i l l of t h ? S e r e n i t a t i s basin is
younger than t h e dark blue gray annulus; the l a t t e r continues i n t o and
appears t o be contesrporaneous w i th t h e f i l l of Mare iranqui 1l i tatis.
!&re ridges occur i n both t h e inner basin f i l l and t h e dark annulus o f
Serenitatis. Ridges a r e interpreted a s the r e s u l t of s t r u c t u r a l defor-
mation and up-doming a f t e r t h e s o l i d i f i c a t i o n of the basal t i c lavas.
On the southeastern rim of the S e r e n i t a t i s basin is t h e darkest

blue gray u n i t within which Apollo 17 landed. Highland massifs surround-

ing this u n i t have unstable slopes which are be1 ieved to be t h e r e s u l t
of localized t e c t o n i c a c t i v i t y . On t h e southwest rim of t h e basin a r e

the dark tan t o brown gray m n t l ing materials of t h e Srrlpicius Gallus

Formation. Farther west on the rim are dark blue gray patches which
resemble t h e mare materfal of t h e Sereni t a t i s dark annulus.

(NASA-Ti-1-70209) O B S E B V I T I O W S OF HARE H74-29245

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I u r E w a E T a r x o a ( N A S A ) 18 p HC $4.00
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 INTRODUCTION

The objective of visual observation f r o m lunar orbit to complement

photography and other remotely sensed data was successful l y f u l f i l led
on Apol lo 17. Because the Apollo 17 ground coverage duplicated about 80%
of that of Apollo 15, much was known about the overflown areas- For this
reason emphasis was placed on the study o f color tones of 1unar surface
u n i t s and on thc details of small scale featurn - A selection of the
carnsents made while i n lunar orbit w i l l appmr in the A p l l o 17 P r e l i l r i -

nary Science R c p a r t (Eratrt a& EI-hz, 1973). This paper s m r i z e s

the orbital obsewaticm relating to ekrt Setmitat5s- Pho-logic
interpmtatfons a r e included t o confirm these observations and to point
out their geological significance.

COLOR B O U W I E S
1

The mare f i l l of t h e Serenitatis basin has long beem knarrn .b

display u n i t s w i t h different albedo characteristics. I t includes s a r r
of the darkest (low- albedo) units on the Moon (Pohn and Wildcy, 1970;
El-Baz, 1972a). There is correlation be- the albedo unit? and color units
detected by special photographic and photoelectric methods (Mitake.,
1972; S t m , 1972).
An attewpt was nud. on Apotlo 17 t o discern the color bounbrfes
and to elucidate t h e i r relationships to other notable color d i f f v
i n adjacent maria. The impottance of this stems frrn grwndtmth data
which indicates that color d i f f n m c e s reflect ccmpesftionrl variatiol~s;
e-g., the darker and bluer the mare, the more titanium in the basalt.

The Apol l o 11 and 17 s i t e s a r e both located i n dark mare units; the mare
basal ts of both s i t e s , a s established by numerous investigators, a r e
relatively rich in titanium (Strom, 1972).
As shown in Figure 1 , Mare Serenitatis displays tw, major albedo

units. The inn* f i l l of the basin is characterized by a higher albedo

-
\
than that of the darker anmrlus, The lat* was pnvicwrly be1i e d t o
be the younger of the trio u n i t s (Cam, 1966; Mil helms aAd M h u l e y , 1971;
El-Baz, 1972a; and others). As w i l l be shown below, Apollo 17 prwided
contrary evidence, U m , u ~ h-visual o b s e r v a t i o ~ sand o r b i t a l photogram, --- - -
t h a t the l i g h t e r c o l d inner f i l l is younger than the dark wmlus,
In addition t o the dark annulus within t h e basin t h e a r e darker
areas on the southeastern and southwestern parts of the basin's rim.
Refering t o these color differences, the CI4P made the following carncrrt
during the Apollo 17 mission: "To me the Moon has a l o t more color than
I had been led t o be1 ieve. (Prior t o the mission) I had t h e imprtssion
t h a t everything was t h e same color. That is f a r frwm being true,"
In the followi-ng discussion the regions o f eastern, southern and
western Serenitatis w i l l be treated separately.

A. Eastern Serenitatis
The dark m a t d a l on the southeastern rim of the S e m i t a t i s basin
(Fig. 2) is dark gray w i t ! a bluish t i n t . During t h e mission, the CMP
stated t h a t i t is similar i n color to the dark f l o o r f i l l of Mamidi Crater
t o the east. A t both l o c a l i t i e s , he a l s o noted t h e pmence of bluish
gray blocks around larger cr~lterr;e.g., the 300-600 m craters clustered
in the Apollo 17 landing s i t e area (Fig. 3 ) .
Prior t o Apol l o 17, photogeologic investigations suggested t h a t the
darker u n i t i s relatively young (e.g. , E l -Baz, 1972a). This was based
primarily on the smooth appearance of the surface. In addition, the
premise that the bluer maria a r e yourlger (Whitaker, 1972), the r e l a t i v e l y
1ow numb= of craters within the dark u n i t (Greel ey and Gaul t, 1973), and
the probability of the presence o f a source o f a pymclastic m t l a i n
the fonn o f volcanic vents or cinda coms i n the area (El-Bar and Yerdcn,

1972), also suggested that the darker u n i t i s relatively yatmg- EartR-

based raQr and I R rhrrticr (Thapsorr et, a l , 1973) also the
interpretation o f an w w s w l l y smoth surface, which s m t s a law
c r a t e r density and therefore a relatively young surface.
Age dating m u i t s indicate that the basal t s of tht Taurus/Littmu

landing site a r e similar i n age t o t h e Apollo 11 basalts, about 3.7 b, y .

01 d (Tera et. a1 , 1973). The dark c c l o r is pmbabl y due to the high
ti t a n i m content of the basal ts (Stram, 1972) and/or a laoderate arnourrt -
of dark glass beads and frag~lentsi n the s o i l samples. There i s a l s o
photographic evideme t h a t the mare materf a1 on t h e southeast rim of
Mare Serenitatis i s embayed by, and therefore older than, the dark annulus
materials (Fig. 2).

8. S o u t h m S e m it a ~ s
Perhaps t h e sharpest demrrcatfcm betmen the kK, major u n i t s o f
Serenitatis i s i n the sou- part of the basin north o f the-c r a m
Plinius (Fig. 4) and b l a u s . Matevials of the outer anmius are dark
blue gray i n color, w i t h a slight tamtsh kmrr. The amre i n the $me?
part o f the b a s h i s l i g h t tan gray.
r
'I
 As shown in Figure 4, the mare of the dark annulus i s more textured
(with small scale undulations and numerous arcuate r i 1les and 1ineaments)
and has more craters per u n i t area than the mare of the inner basin. The
superposition relationships are a1so clear: R i 11es and other depressions
i n the older annulus are encroached and flooded by the 1ighter and younger
unit. The braad aurt ridge which is a relatively y o u ~ gfeature is also

confined t o the 1ight-colored unit.

C. Western S e m i b t i s
The dark blue gray mare aoterial of the Serewi tatis annulus i s
exposed i n the western part near Sulpicius Gallus Crater, and the otpsum
continues northward i n a broad zone beyad the point of merger-of Mare
Serenitatis and Mare Imbriunr. Another dark u n i t is exposed i n the a m
of the Sulpicius Gallus Rilles on the western rim of the Serenitatis
basin. T h i s u n i t has a dark brownish t i n t . I t appears t o f i l l valleys
and thinly mantle wnall hills between the Haemus Mountains, whose tops
are not mantled, The color and texture of this u n i t d i f f e r from those of
other terra mantliog materials farther t o the west, which fonn s m t h and
f l a t patches of blue-gray materials (Fig. 5).
The Sulpicius Gallus Rilles themelves are located i n a dark brownish
gray u n i t t h a t appears t o mantle the rim materials of the S e m i t a t i s
basin. This u n i t has been mapped as t h e Sulpicius Gallus F o m t f a n (Caw,
1966). I t is i n this area that several craters, probibly o f impact
origin, and irregular elongate depressions of unknom, origin, have a rust-
colored o r orange t i n t . Since the same t i n t was o b s w e d from o r b i t on
the north flank of Shorty Crater (Evans and El-Bat, 1973), i t is reasonable
t o assume t h a t the orange colors a t both l o c a l i t i e s a r e caused by the
presence of orange-tinted glass beads which may be e i t h e r volcanic o r
impact i n origin.

MARE RIDGES

One major system o f wrinkle ridges, and several subsidiary ridges

occur i n Mare S e m i t a t i s . The major circular system occurs within the

1i g h t e r colored inner mare nmkrial of S e m i t a t i s . The subsidiary ridges
that are either subparallel to tha major ridge systtm o r radial t o it,
occur i n both units o f Hare Serwritatis.
O n e prcmimt subsidiary ridge is i n the eastcrn part of kn
Serenitatis. A part o f t h i s ridge unusually laps up agaimt tho south-

western corner o f the flooded crater t e Monier (Fig. 6). I t continues

to the south as a bruad ridge, with sharp discontinuous e s c a m t s near
i t s borders. This characteristic is also cmmn along the inajor ridge
system (Fig. 6).
Figure 4 i l l u s t r a t e s an example of a radial subsidiary ridge. As is

comnon, there are no crosscut relationships w i t h the main circular ridge,

and both appear to have formed contemporaneously. In this particular
example, the ridge abuts agaimt the older mare material t h a t f o m the
dark annulus near the rim of Serenitatis. There are ~ O W ~ Ycases
W, where
subsidiary ridges u t d throupk th..darker annulus, such a s i n the south-
eastern corner o f Rare Serenitatis (~1-Bat, 1972a)-

In most cases, Mcrr I s clear evidcma of correlation between the

Serenitatis mare ridges and f a u l t systems in and a m m i the basin ( ~ l - ~ a z ,
1972a). I t was prrviarsly s h (El-Bat, 1972b) that relattvely yo-
nare flows i n southwestern Mare Imbrium are pushed upward by ridges o f
substantial elevation, which suggests that t h e ridges are younger than the

flows. This and superposition o f ridges on mare materials of Serenitatis

indicate t h a t the ridges are f o n d a f t e r the emplacement and s o l i d i f i c a t i o n

o f the lava f i l l . The ridges are best explained by thrusting up o f the

s o l i d materials,nith the excqticrrr o f a fen m a l l extrusions and f l o w l i k e

>,
f e a t u m that wee p m k b l y f l u i d i n the eastern part of the S m f tatis

r i d g e systes (Strum, 1972).

HIGHtAIID UNITS

Highland o r terra u n i t s that s u m m d the landing s i t e (both m s s i f

u n i t s and sculptured h i l l s ) constitute the best exposures of S e r m i t a t f s

r i m materials. They were studied from o r b i t and canpared t o materials

surrounding C r i s i m and I m b r i m basins.

Massif u n i t s sumunding the Taurus-Li ttron valley haw an unusually

high albedo- A concentration o f blocks o c u v s on the tops of the massifs

t h a t i s matched only on the tops o f central peaks of r e l a t i v e l y fresh

crate: ;such as Tsiolkovsky. Evidence o f downslope m o v ~ otf material

including numerous tracks o f downward moving blocks (Fig. 7) suggests
t h a t t h t massifs have unstable slopes. The l i g h t mantle i n t h e landing

s i t e area (Fig. 3) i s believed t o be a landslide t h a t originated from

South Massf 8 (El-Baz, 1972a).

Massif u n i t s o f comparable s i t e surrounding Mare Crisium and Mare

Imbrium do not show s i m i l a r features, a1though both Crisf wr and Inrbrim
basins are believed t o be younger thnn the S e m i t a t f s basin (Wilheirm

and McCauley, 1971). Block exposures and dowmlope m v e m n t of material

on the Serenitatis massifs may hav? been triggered by relatively recent
tectcnic a c t i v i t y in the area; one possibit ity is the tectonic movement
that Formed the Scarp (Fig. 3).
The Sculptured H i l l s have a lower albedo than that of the naassifs
("intermediate betweerr that of the massifs and the dark mantle"), and are
1i g h t gray i n color. These h i l l s which dawimte the terrain north and
east of the landing s i t e a m are h e l i e m i to be o f different w i # n
from h i l l y units surrounding H m ? C r i s i u , although \both g i v e #e
so-called corn-on-tlmob appwsnce a t high Sun elevation ;npla, -
sculpturing i s belf to bkar, mhmced by acct#irttoa ef 91.k
materials i n grooves bekrrar the highland h f l l s .

The low a1bedo material which forms the dark annulus of Hare Sercrri-
t a t i s has the same color and albedo as the f i l l o f mot o f Ham Tranquil-
litatis. Thfs i s suppurted by similarities i n chewistry and i n c r y s t a l l i -

zation age of the Apollo 17 and Apollo 11 mare basalts. Mare material o f

the dark annulus ahears t o be flooded by and therefore older than the
1ighter mare filli n the inner part of the Swenitatis basin.
To sumnari ze the colors o f t)re mare units o f S e m f t e t f s as o&smed
fm orbit: The i n n u f i l l of the basin i s l i g h t tan gray; the ate
annulus f s dark blue gray; the Taurrrs-Littrtm valley where the Apt3110 17
LE( landed i s a darker blue gray; the Sulpiciut Gallur F o m t i o ~i s dark

tan to brown gray a d ttte n u r e l i k e p a t c h babem th. Ha- an8

Apennine llountaim an,l i k e tJte rmvlur r t i k 4 a l s . dark blub ray.
 These c o l o r ~ h a r a c t e r i s t i c sa r e important i n extrapola t i ny ground-
t r u t h data t o l a r g e r areas of t h e Moon, as well a s in the i n t e r p r e t a t i o n
o f results of both Earth-based and o r b i t a l geochemical and geophysical

remote sensing.
A c i r c u l a r major ridge system is located i n the l i g h t i n n e r mare
f i l l of S e r e n i t a t i s . Subsidiary ridges, both subparallel and r a d i a l t o
t h e v a j o r system occur in both the l i g h t inner mare and i n the d w k anrrrrlus,
but none appear t o be d i r e c t l y r e l a t e d t o t h e lava extrusioa, The ridges
a r e probably due to s t r u c t u r a l d e f o m t i o t : a f t e r the sol i d i f f c a t i o n o f the
mare lavas.
The brightness of the S e m i t a t i s massifs, the nuncraus blocks that
c m them, t h e tracks o f d t ~ ~ ~moving
- ~ r dblocks, a s well a s t h e land-
s l i d e t h a t is believed t o have formed t h e 1 i g h t mantle i n t h e Apollo 17
landing s i t e are believed t o be indications of r e l a t i v e l y l a t e t e c t o n i c
movement. One p o s s i b i l i t y is the displacements t h a t resul td i n the

formation of t h e Scarp, which is probably o l d e r than the slid*.

 REFERENCES

Carr M. H. (1966) Geologic map of the Mare Serenitatis region of the moon. U.S.

Geol . Surv. Misc. Geol . Inv. Map 1-489.

El-Bat F. (1972a) The cinder f i e l d o f the Taurus Mountains. In Apollo 15

Prel iminary Scf m e Rcport NASA SP-289, pp. 25-67 t o 25-71.
--

El-Baz F. (1972b) Nm gralgfcal findings i n Apallo 15 l w r orbital photo-

-- --- - .- .- *-. -.i
~ . Val, 1, pp. 39-61.
g r a m Pmc. 3 r d ~ r S Conf. :
f
El-Baz f. A. #. . ~ I W Z )v
a d ~rrdm i m~t +~mfm 1- mt.

- - . -
-.--25-27. --. - --
- -- .-..- . ..

Evans R. E. and El-Bat F. (1973) Geological observations fm lunar. o r b i t .

I n Apollo 15 Preliminary Science Report NASA SF-330 ( i n press).
.- . -I-- - -..-
Pohn H. A.' and Ui Icky R. L. (1970) ~h&.electrfc-pkotogmphfc ~a€&
of thc
nornral alb* of the m m . U.S. Geol. Suw. Prof. Papar 599-E.
Greeley R. and Gault 0. E. (1973) Crater frectumcy ,age determimtfarn f o r

the proposed Apollo 17 s i t e a t T i ~s-littraw. Earth 8 Planet,

Sci. Let.', Vol. 1%pp. 102-108.
Strom R. G. (1972) Lunar mare ridges, rings and volcanfc r i n g complexes.

In The fhm: International Asttbnonfcat Union, Sylrrp. No. 47

Runcorn 5. K. and U m y H. C. editors,pp. 187-215.
Tera F. Papanrs.-sim - - (1973)- A.- l u w cataclym
0. A. and Uusserburg G. 3. - -.
t

at 1 3.95 R a d tm ~httGG--&--thc~GFct-&. I n Lunar SCI& IV.

Chamberlain J. M. and b t k i n s C. dltm L w w Science Institute,
pp. 723-725.
Thompson T. W . Shorthill R . W . lrlhitaker E . A. and Zisk S. H . (1973)
Complex origin o f Mare Serenitatis floor: Synthesis of remote
observations. In Lunar Science IV. Chamberlain J. W. and
Watkins C. editors. Lunar Sclence Institute, pp. 726-727.
Whitaker E. A. (1972) Lunar color boundaries and their relationship to
topographic features: a prel i d w r y survey. The Hoon Vol. 4,
pp. 348-355.
Wilhelm D, E. and McCwley J . F. (1971) Geologfc map of the nearside o f
the moan. U.S. Geol. Sum. MSC.G-1. Inv. Map 1-703.
 CAPTIONS OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Oblique view looking westward across Mare Tranquill i t a t i s ( l e f t )

and Mare Sereni tat1s ( r i g h t ) showing the simi l a r f t y i n apparent
a1bedo and color o f Tranquil1 i t a t i s and the dark annulus o f

Serenitatis. The dark pat& on the southeastern r i m of Sermitatf s

i s show i n smre d e t a i l i n Figure 2. Apollo 17 Hass~lblad
152-23328.
Figure 2. The dark a r m (center t o lower edge) be- hfghlimd massifs i n
t h e ~ ~ t t m s t h m r i r r a f ~ r ~ ~Att aw tk fs sr a~f -
edge o f phatograph, the nrrc f i l l o f the Sercnftatfs h f w (the
dark annulus material) appears t o truncate, and therefarc i s
younger than, the dark un4t on the Sereni t a t i s basin r i m ~ t r r i a l
(the darkest unit), see also Lunar Orbiter V, frame 66-44,
Figure 3. Tlae Apollo 17 Taurus-Lf ttm landing sf te. The two massf f u n i t s

.. . * - - - which- a- - Tight mantle

are- separated by 8 km w- i.c k dark deposft on *

i s superposed. Blue gray colored blocks were obsemed i n the

cluster 6 f craters near the r i g h t edge. The Scarp whfch bisects
the dark deposf t contfnues across the lower slopes of North Massif
i n a northvesterly trend.' Apol l o 17 Hassel blad frame 150-23006.
Figure 4. Albedolcolor boundary i n southern Marc S e m i t a t i s north o f the
crater P l infus whose r f m appears on tb lower edge o f Ut photo-
graph. Portf on o" the circular mare ridge system appmm on the
upper edge o f the phatogtgph; a subsidfary ridge that i s radial
t o i t abuts against the older and darker mare u n i t in the latddle

o f the photograph. Apollo 17 Hasselblad frame 150-23069.

Figure 5. Oblique view looking westward of the western r i m deposfts o f
the Sereni t a t i s basin. The dark blue gray material o f the
Serenitatis annulus i s i n the lower right corner. The Sulpicius
Galius R i l l e s ( r i g h t edge) and the u n i t i n the near f i e l d are
tan t o brown gray i n color. This i s contrasted t o patches i n the
background o f dark blue gray mare-1 ike materials. Apol l o 17
Hassel bl ad f rar 153.23573 .
Figure 6. Ri@ systenn o f eastem Marc Sermitatfs: top, portion o f the
sutnidf ary r f dga system i n t h e dark annulus n#r the souUIwntcrn
r i m o f L g ' M a r i n Cram (Ilpallo 17 HasselblH frame 153-2-j;
bottom, portion o f the major circular rid* s y s m s b i n g t!u!
sharp escarpments on both sides o f the broad r i d g e (Apollo 17
Hassel b l ad f ram 150-23021 )
' .
Figure 7. V i e w from the Taurus-Littrow valley o f North Massii" showing
boulders (some are circ1ed)that moved downslopa leaving conspi-
cuous tmdss- A@ lo 17 Hissel blad fraAs 147-22549.