"Numerous impact melt flow deposits have been identified exterior to impact crater rims on the Moon [e.g., Hawke and Head, 1977; Denevi et al., 2012; Stopar et al., 2014; Neish et al. 2014]. We focus our attention upon examination of a portion of the 146 impact melt flows exterior to crater rim crests identified and described by Neish et al. [2014]. While many of these craters were initially discovered with optical imagery, Neish et al. [2014] identified many additional impact-melt flows using Mini-RF data. Numerous impact melt flows normally not visible to optical instrumentation are visible in S-band (12.6 cm) radar because their physical properties are distinct from their surroundings. Here, we further characterize these impact melt flows for their spatial emplacement, mineralogy, and chemistry using Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) data to place better constraints on aspects of impact crater processes. In particular, we aim to examine potential influences on impact melt emplacement including: mineral to glass proportions, the depth of excavation of target materials, and any evidence for remnant impactor materials or secondary recrystallization of these materials to different mineral assemblages relative to the surrounding target rock. M3 is useful towards this evaluation because it collected data in 85 spectral bands in the near-infrared ranging from 430 to 3000 nm at 140 to 280 m/pixel and achieved global coverage during the first half of 2009. Several types of near-infrared absorption analyses are appropriate for discriminating lunar deposits of various mineralogies and chemistries. Several initial lunar impact melt flow deposits have recently been examined using M3 data by Kramer et al. [2011], Dhingra et al. [2013], and Woehler et al. [2014]. For example, Dhingra et al. [2013] used a combination of the albedo at 1498 nm, the integrated band depth (IBD) at 2000 nm, and the band depth (BD) at 1900 nm to better characterize the spatial extent and composition of an impact melt flow deposit on the floor of Copernicus crater.
Here, in order to further characterize the composition of this database of impact melt flows we utilize similar band and integrated band depth analyses to better discriminate their mineralogy, chemical composition, and the spatial extent of these melt deposits relative to monochromatic optical imagery and S-band data sets. The mineral and chemical composition of these melts will advance our understanding about the physical and chemical processes that aided in the emplacement of these flows subsequent to target impact."