Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy of Anorthosite Samples From Near Manicouagan Crater, Canada, as Analogue for Remote Sensing of Mercury and Other Terrestrial Solar System Objects

We investigated mid-infrared reflectance spectra of anorthosite samples from Mt. Briand near the Manicouagan impact structure. Microprobe analyses of the plagioclase minerals reveal that they have a similar chemical composition (labradoritic), which is corroborated by the location of the Christiansen Feature at around 7.96 µm (1256 cm−1). However, their respective spectral shapes differ from each other in the region of the reststrahlen bands. This is linked to the degree of Al,Si order within the plagioclase minerals, which also correlates with the previously assumed distance of the sample site to the impact melt. Powdering and sieving led to remarkable changes in the spectra resulting from different mechanical stability of minerals contained in the sample. Our data show that even very weakly shocked (6–10 GPa, shockstage S2) anorthosites could show spectra of Al,Si disordered plagioclase which we attribute to post shock heating after the impact shock. Consequently, the degree of Al,Si order has to be taken into account in the interpretation of remote sensing data. A comparison of synthetic linear mixture with an average Mercury spectrum reveals the possible presence of more or less anorthositic material with reduced degree of Al,Si order of the plagioclase component on Mercury's surface. The results of our study are helpful for the interpretation of data returned by space missions, especially for MERTIS - an infrared spectrometer on its way to Mercury