Publications

Mare Serenitatis is a circular mare approximately 600 km in diameter in the northeast quadrant of the lunar near side. It occupies an old multi-ringed basin (refs. 33-1 and 33-2) and is the site of a prominent mascon (ref. 33-3). A conspicuous dark annulus in this mare prompted subdivision of the mare materials into different stratigraphic units (refs. 33-2 and 33-4). A revised...

Morphometry, the quantitative study of shape, complements the visual observation and photointerpretation in analyzing the most outstanding landforms of the Moon, its craters (refs. 32-1 and 32-2). All three of these interpretative tools, which were developed throughout the long history of telescopic lunar study preceding the Apollo Program, will continue to be applicable to crater...

"Wrinkle ridges" in the Taurus-Littrow region along the eastern margin of the Mare Serenitatis appear very fresh and are probably among the youngest on the Moon. They include both mare ridges and similar-looking one-sided scarps. Evidence will be presented here to suggest that these ridges and scarps may be anticlines and thrust faults that resulted from sliding on a décollement surface

Orbital photographs taken at low-Sun illumination during both the Apollo 15 (ref. 30-14) and Apollo 17 missions have provided excellent data on the lava flows in the southwestern Mare Imbrium. These photographs have been used recently to present a detailed photogeologic evaluation of these flows and their role in mare volcanism of Eratosthenian age in the basin (ref. 30-15). Eruption of...

Small volcanic cones with summit craters or breached walls occur in several areas on the Moon. Most of these features have basal diameters of approximately 1 to 2 km and probably are not more than a few hundred meters in height. None have been so clearly photographed, however, as those shown in Apollo 17 metric and panoramic camera coverage of the southeastern margin of the Serenitatis...

Apollo 17 metric photographs (fig. 29-26) provide the best available coverage for geologic interpretation of northern Mare Crisium and the northern Crisium basin. The area was covered previously by low-resolution telescopic and Lunar Orbiter IV photographs and by oblique, high-illumination, or low-resolution photographs from earlier Apollo missions. One region in particular, between...

The lunar maria formed at different times and in multiple stages of extrusion. An understanding of their evolution is essential in placing the Apollo samples in a regional context and in interpreting the regional geology of a vast part of the lunar surface.

A dark-colored surficial deposit covers lowlands and highlands along the southeastern margin of the Serenitatis basin. Sampling of this material was a major exploration objective of the Apollo 17 mission. Since completion of the mission, the dark mantle has been the subject of considerable controversy, inasmuch as no obvious stratified deposit was found in the landing area. Yet the...

The Apollo 17 lunar module (LM) landed on the flat floor of a deep valley that embays the mountainous highlands at the eastern rim of the Serenitatis basin. Serenitatis, the site of a pronounced mascon, is one of the major multi-ringed basins on the near side of the Moon. The Taurus-Littrow valley, which is radial to the Serenitatis basis, is interpreted as a deep graben formed by...

The scientific objectives of the Apollo lunar sounder experiment (ALSE) are (1) mapping of subsurface electrical conductivity structure to infer geological structure, (2) surface profiling to determine lunar topographic variations, (3) surface imaging, and (4) measuring galactic electromagnetic radiation in the lunar environment. The ALSE was a three-frequency, wide-band, coherent radar...

The lunar surface orientations of some of the Apollo 17 rock samples at the time of their collection (table 6-V) are shown in this appendix (figs. 6-65 to 6-87). These orientations were determined by correlating lunar photographs of samples before collection with shapes and shadow characteristics of the same samples in the LRL under oblique illumination with nearly collimated light. The...

The uranium concentration and isotopic composition of water and suspended sediment from the Nueces River, Nueces Bay and Corpus Christi Bay were determined by alpha-spectroscopy. The average dissolved uranium concentration and radioactivity ratio (U234/U238) of Nueces River water were determined to be 2.44 µg/1 and 1.15 respectively. Water from a tributary of the Nueces River, Cayamon...