The thorium concentration across the vast South Pole (IMAGE)

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

The thorium concentration across the vast South Pole

Caption

The thorium concentration across the vast South Pole – Aitken Basin on the lunar farside reveals the distribution of mantle materials violently ejected during the basin-forming impact. Here, thorium abundance is represented by a rainbow color scale, with high-thorium areas shown in red, trending to purple and grey with lower abundances. Two craters in the northwestern region of the basin exhibit especially high thorium abundance (indicated in red on the map), suggesting the presence of abundant mantle materials currently exposed on the surface.

Credit

Credits: NASA/LRO/Lunar Prospector/D. Moriarty

Usage Restrictions

No restrictions.

License

Public Domain

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