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Regolith Thickness

Estimation from FeO+TiO2 Variation Model

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Encyclopedia of Lunar Science
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Introduction

Lunar surface is almost entirely covered by fine- to coarse-grained porous materials called “regolith,” which is formed due to the intense micro- to large-scale meteorite bombardments (McKay et al. 1991) throughout its evolution. The regolith presence on a planetary surface is an important indicator of its evolution and alteration it had undergone. Lunar regolith thickness varies over mare and highland regions as ~4–5 m and ~10–14 m, respectively (McKay et al. 1991), which significantly covers the underlying bedrock materials. Significantly varying regolith cover can be quantified to a first-order estimation by modeling the subsurface emission from regolith at radar frequencies as a function of brightness temperature. In addition to this, an empirical inversion would provide the possible thickness of regolith (Fa and Jin 2007). The estimation of regolith thickness modeled using the emission from the subsurface at radar frequencies (passive mode of remote sensing...

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S., V. (2016). Regolith Thickness. In: Cudnik, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Lunar Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05546-6_42-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05546-6_42-1

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