Morphometric Analysis of Lunar Sinuous Rilles

Abstract

Lunar rilles are any of the long, narrow depressions on the surface of the Moon. These structures have different characteristics, which are related to their origin. Here, a classification of the lunar rilles in different groups with similar morphometric features and likely the same formation mechanisms is proposed. The detection, classification and mapping of lunar rilles has been achieved in two quadrants of the northern hemisphere, which are located between −90°E to 90°E longitude and 0°N to 60°N latitude. For the detection and mapping of rilles, we used images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) [1] which have a resolution of 100 m/pixel and the DEM from Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) with a resolution of 6 m/pixel.This work is part of an international cooperation between Italy and China called Moon Mapping project for the collaboration between Italian and Chinese college students.