Local spectrophotometric properties of pyroclastic deposits at the Lavoisier lunar crater

Abstract We present a study of the Lavoisier lunar crater combining photometric data from the AMIE camera (SMART-1 mission) and hyperspectral data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper M 3 (Chandrayaan-1 mission), with a special emphasis on the pyroclastic deposits considered to be present on the crater floor. The photometric parameters are in agreement with the general photometric behaviors of the lunar regolith, especially the backscattering properties. The assumed pyroclastic materials within Lavoisier present at first order a rather homogeneous photometric behavior, in favor of their surface state homogeneity. However, they are not significantly different from other “non-dark” patches on the crater’s floor, whereas the assumed pyroclastic deposit of Lavoisier F displays clearly different photometric parameters, indicative of distinct physical surface properties from the pyroclastic materials within Lavoisier. Using laboratory data to get hindsight on the reliability of results from orbital datasets, we show that the use of more or less depleted phase curves for photometric inversions has a clear impact on the photometric parameters that are derived. The hyperspectral analysis of Lavoisier crater shows that the various pyroclastic deposits present the same mineralogical composition, distinct from the floor of the crater and the mare basalts. M 3 spectra do not differentiate between the pyroclastic deposits within Lavoisier and Lavoisier F. They have the same spectral signatures, share a similar mineralogical composition, and probably the same volcanic origin. Therefore, the differences seen in the photometric analysis from the AMIE observations are indicative of variations in grain sizes, and/or roughness, and/or particles scattering properties, and/or compaction state. The combined mineralogical and photometric analysis is a very useful approach to document the nature of the pyroclastic deposits of the Moon, and possibly of other objects of the Solar System (e.g., Mercury) as the combination of the mineralogy and the physical properties sets constraints on the origin and mode of emplacement of the deposits, and characterizes the eruption styles.