Qiao, L. and Head, J.W. and Ling, Z. and Wilson, L. and Xiao, L. and Dufek, J.D. and Yan, J. (2019) Geological Characterization of the Ina Shield Volcano Summit Pit Crater on the Moon:Evidence for Extrusion of Waning-Stage Lava Lake Magmatic Foams and Anomalously Young Crater Retention Ages. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 124 (4). pp. 1100-1140. ISSN 2169-9097
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Abstract
Ina, a distinctive ~2 × 3 km D-shaped depression, is composed of unusual bulbous-shaped mounds surrounded by optically immature hummocky/blocky floor units. The crisp appearance, optical immaturity, and low number of superposed impact craters combine to strongly suggest a geologically recent formation for Ina, but the specific formation mechanism remains controversial. We reconfirm that Ina is a summit pit crater/vent on a small shield volcano ~3.5 billion years old. Following detailed characterization, we interpret the range of Ina characteristics to be consistent with a two-component model of origin during the waning stages of summit pit eruption activities. The Ina pit crater floor is interpreted to be dominated by the products of late-stage, low-rise rate magmatic dike emplacement. Magma in the dike underwent significant shallow degassing and vesicle formation, followed by continued degassing below the solidified and highly microvesicular and macrovesicular lava lake crust, resulting in cracking of the crust and extrusion of gas-rich magmatic foams onto the lava lake crust to form the mounds. These unique substrate characteristics (highly porous aerogel-like foam mounds and floor terrains with large vesicles and void space) exert important effects on subsequent impact crater characteristics and populations, influencing (1) optical maturation processes, (2) regolith development, and (3) landscape evolution by modifying the nature and evolution of superposed impact craters and thus producing anomalously young crater retention ages. Accounting for these effects results in a shift of crater size-frequency distribution model ages from