Is the Linne' impact crater morphology influenced by the rheological layering on the Moon's surface? Insights from numerical modeling

Abstract–Linne is a simple crater, with a diameter of 2.23 km and a depth of 0.52 km, located in northwestern Mare Serenitatis. Recent high-resolution data acquired by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera revealed that the shape of this impact structure is best described by an inverted truncated-cone. We perform morphometric measurements, including slope and profile curvature, on the Digital Terrain Model of Linne, finding the possible presence of three subtle topographic steps, at the elevation of +20, 100, and 200 m relative to the target surface. The kink at 100 m might be related to the interface between two different rheological layers. Using the iSALE shock physics code, we numerically model the formation of Linne crater to derive hints on the possible impact conditions and target physical properties. In the initial setup, we adopt a basaltic projectile impacting the Moon with a speed of 18 km s. For the local surface, we consider either one or two layers, in order to test the influence of material properties or composite rheologies on the final crater morphology. The one-layer model shows that the largest variations in the crater shape take place when either the cohesion or the friction coefficient is varied. In particular, a cohesion of 10 kPa marks the threshold between conical- and parabolic-shaped craters. The two-layer model shows that the interface between the two layers would be exposed at the observed depth of 100 m when an intermediate value (~200 m) for the upper fractured layer is set. We have also found that the truncated-cone morphology of Linne might originate from an incomplete collapse of the crater wall, as the breccia lens remains clustered along the crater walls, while the high-albedo deposit on the crater floor can be interpreted as a very shallow lens of fallout breccia. The modeling analysis allows us to derive important clues on the impactor size (under the assumption of a vertical impact and collision velocity equal to the mean value), and on the approximate, large-scale preimpact target properties. Observations suggest that these large-scale material properties likely include some important smaller scale variations, disclosed as subtle morphological steps in the crater walls. Furthermore, the modeling results allow advancing some hypotheses on the geological evolution of the Mare Serenitatis region where Linne crater is located (unit S14). We suggest that unit S14 has a thickness of at least a few hundreds of meters up to about 400 m.