Layer of Pyroclastics in Sinus Aestuum

Northeastern wall of Bode C crater. LROC NAC M139938121L, a 600 meter field of view centered on 12.276°N 355.165°E; LRO orbit 5756, 0.50 meters resolution from 46.26 km. Downslope toward bottom right, north at top [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Hiroyuki Sato
LROC News System

Today's Featured Image highlights the slope of the northeastern crater wall inside Bode C.

The Bode C crater is 7 km in diameter, and located at eastern edge of Mare Insularum.

Low reflectance material flowed down the middle of the wall, possibly indicating a subsurface layered structure of low reflectance materials along this elevation.

High sun (15.07° angle of incidence) over Bode C, in context of a full width mosaic of both the left and right frames of LROC NAC M139938121LR [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Dark streaks are found along an almost constant elevation throughout the whole crater. Thus the spatial extent of this layer is likely more than the crater diameter.

Bode C in relation to the Rima Bode pyroclastics of Sinus Aestuum, from the Chang'e-1 global medium resolution mosaic [CNSA/CLEP].

Rima Bode, one of many Dark Mantle Deposits (DMD), is located about 20 km east from this crater. DMDs are thought to be formed as fire fountaining eruptions spread ash around a vent. The size of Rima Bode is about 70 by 80 km, with a crescent shape extending northwest and southwest direction. If this DMD distributed ash to the west, Bode C could have excavated this layer of Rima Bode's pyroclastics, thus explaining the dark streaks on its crater wall. High resolution images of impact craters give scientists a lot of information about the crater itself, but also tell about the surrounding geologic structures and history. 

LROC WAC monochrome mosaic (100 m/pix), centered on 6.14°N, 177.60°E. The NAC footprint (blue box) and location of opening image field of view (yellow arrow) are indicated [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Explore the streaks of low reflectance materials inside Bode C in full NAC frame, HERE.

Related Posts:
Rima Bode: Constellation Region of Interest
Pyroclastic Trails
Hyginus Crater and Pyroclastics
Dark Wisps in Copernicus
Dark streaks in Diophantus crater
Low Reflectance Deposits on the Lassell Massif
DMD Excavations
Pyroclastic Excavation