Recent Advances and Current Research Issues in Lunar Stratigraphy (Geological Society of America Special Paper)

VIII-159 p. : 28 cm. Lunar stratigraphic relationships and issues relating to their resolution occur at a wide variety of scales—from the very largest scale (impact basins), to smaller scales (large impact craters, discrete highlands, and volcanic terrains), where detailed mapping of structural, volcanic, and impact-related features has increased understanding of three-dimensional lunar stratigraphic relationships in areas where the chronological history has been unknown or incomplete. The investigations in this volume address several major questions regarding the Moon’s origin and basin history, including (1) the lunar cataclysm hypothesis; (2) the timing and relative age of major basins such as South Pole–Aitken; (3) stratigraphic relationships of basins and mare-fill units within the South Pole–Aitken; (4) recognition of cryptic basins from recent topographic data, leading to a more comprehensive lunar stratigraphic sequence; (5) internal mare stratigraphy and history of emplacement of volcanic strata in major basins; and (6) understanding the formation of lunar sinuous rilles through analysis of their final morphology, providing insight into lunar volcanic processes and local stratigraphy.