Recent Volcanism, Ina-D

The end of lunar volcanism took place more than a billion years ago. Or did it? Over sixty small patches of very young volcanic flows were discovered in LROC images. These small extrusions of basaltic material, similar to lava being erupted in Hawaii, are known as Irregular Mare Patches, or IMPs, and were erupted in the past 10 to 100 million years. The most famous IMP is Ina-D and was known from Apollo era images. The smooth blobs inside the volcanic crater (caldera; 1800 meters wide) have very few impact craters on them testifying to their young age. How young are they? Only a returned sample will tell us!

• Latitude: 18.653°
• Longitude: 5.3°
• Camera: NAC
• Image Width: 5.2 km
• Image(s): M1108203502LR
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