title: Volcanic history of the Imbrium basin: A close-up view from the lunar rover Yutu.
abstract: We report the surface exploration by the lunar rover Yutu that landed on the young lava flow in the northeastern part of the Mare Imbrium, which is the largest basin on the nearside of the Moon and is filled with several basalt units estimated to date from 3.5 to 2.0 Ga. The onboard lunar penetrating radar conducted a 114-m-long profile, which measured a thickness of ∼5 m of the lunar regolith layer and detected three underlying basalt units at depths of 195, 215, and 345 m. The radar measurements suggest underestimation of the global lunar regolith thickness by other methods and reveal a vast volume of the last volcano eruption. The in situ spectral reflectance and elemental analysis of the lunar soil at the landing site suggest that the young basalt could be derived from an ilmenite-rich mantle reservoir and then assimilated by 10-20% of the last residual melt of the lunar magma ocean.
authors: Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China;
authors: Jinhai
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China;
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Yang
authors: Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China;
authors: Sen
authors: S
authors: Hu
authors: Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; linyt@mail.igcas.ac.cn.
authors: Yangting
authors: Y
authors: Lin
authors: Institute of Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China;
authors: Guangyou
authors: G
authors: Fang
authors: National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China;
authors: Chunlai
authors: C
authors: Li
authors: Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
authors: Wenxi
authors: W
authors: Peng
authors: Key Laboratory of Mineralogy and Metallogeny, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China;
authors: Sanyuan
authors: S
authors: Zhu
authors: Key Laboratory of Space Active Opto-Electronics Technology, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200083, China;
authors: Zhiping
authors: Z
authors: He
authors: Institute of Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China;
authors: Bin
authors: B
authors: Zhou
authors: The Fifth Laboratory, Beijing Institute of Space Mechanics & Electricity, Beijing 100076, China;
authors: Hongyu
authors: H
authors: Lin
authors: Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710119, China;
authors: Jianfeng
authors: J
authors: Yang
authors: Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610209, China; and.
authors: Enhai
authors: E
authors: Liu
authors: Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China;
authors: Yuchen
authors: Y
authors: Xu
authors: Key Laboratory of Space Active Opto-Electronics Technology, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200083, China;
authors: Jianyu
authors: J
authors: Wang
authors: Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China;
authors: Zhenxing
authors: Z
authors: Yao
authors: National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China;
authors: Yongliao
authors: Y
authors: Zou
authors: National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China;
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Yan
authors: Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Science, Guiyang 550002, China.
authors: Ziyuan
authors: Z
authors: Ouyang
keywords: Chang’e-3 mission; Imbrium basin; lunar penetrating radar; lunar rover Yutu; volcanic history