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The geologic setting of the Luna 16 landing site

January 1, 1972

The Luna 16 landing site is similar in its geologic setting to Apollos 11 and 12. All three sites are located on basaltic mare fill which occurs mostly within multi-ring basins formed by impact earlier in the moon's history. A regolith developed by impact bombardment is present at each of these sites. The regolith is composed mostly of locally derived volcanic material, but also contains exotic fine fragments that have been ballistically transported into the landing sites by large impact events which formed craters such as Langrenus and Copernicus. These exotic fragments probably consist mostly of earlier reworked multi-ring basin debris and, although not directly traceable to individual sources, they do represent a good statistical sample of the composition of most of the premare terrac regions.

Publication Year 1972
Title The geologic setting of the Luna 16 landing site
DOI 10.1016/0012-821X(72)90099-4
Authors J.F. McCauley, D. H. Scott
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Index ID 70010306
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse