Lunar swirls Examining crustal magnetic anomalies and space…月球漩涡检查地壳磁异常和空间.pdfVIP

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 116, E02002, doi:10.1029/2010JE003656, 2011 Lunar swirls: Examining crustal magnetic anomalies and space weathering trends David T. Blewett,1 Ecaterina I. Coman,1,2 B. Ray Hawke,3 Jeffrey J. GillisDavis,3 Michael E. Purucker,4 and Christopher G. Hughes5 Received 19 May 2010; revised 29 September 2010; accepted 12 October 2010; published 3 February 2011. [1] We have used multispectral images from Clementine and data from Lunar Prospector’s magnetometer to conduct a survey of lunar crustal magnetic anomalies, prominent lunar swirls, and lesser known swirl markings to provide new information on the nature of swirls and their association with magnetic anomalies. We find that all swirls and swirllike albedo patterns are associated with areas of magnetized crust, but not all areas of magnetized crust are colocated with swirllike albedo anomalies. All observed swirls exhibit spectral characteristics similar to immature material and generally have slightly lower FeO values compared with their surroundings as determined with a multispectral ironmapping method. We discuss these results in relation to the various hypotheses for swirl formation. The comet impact hypothesis for lunar swirls would not predict a difference in the spectrally determined FeO content between swirls and nearby ordinary surfaces. The compositional difference could be explained as a consequence of (1) magnetic shielding of the surface from the solar wind, which could produce anomalous space weathering (little darkening with limited reddening) and potentially alter the predictions of the multispectral ironmapping algorithm while the compositional contrast could be enhanced by delivery of lowerFeO ejecta from outside the swirl; and (2) accumulation of fine plagioclaserich dust moving under the influence of electric fields induced by solar wind interactions with a magnetic anomaly. Therefore, we cannot at present clearly distinguish between