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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0The Planetary Science Journal

Lunar Geochemistry from X-Ray Line Flux Ratios Using CLASS on Chandrayaan-2

  • R. Kumar1,2
  • Y. Rai1
  • S. Srijan1
  • A. Bansal1
  • Ameya V. Singh1
  • A. Kumar1
  • H. Mhatre1
  • M. Goyal1
  • S. Swain1
  • S. Patidar1
  • Aditya P. Saikia1
  • A. Ahmad1
4 more authors
  • S. Narendranath3,4
  • Netra S. Pillai3
  • R. Kashyap1
  • V. Bhalerao1
4 affiliations
  1. 1Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
  2. 2University of Minnesota
  3. 3U R Rao Satellite Centre
  4. 4Raman Research Institute
Open at sourcePDFDOICite

Abstract

Global lunar chemical maps are essential for understanding the origin and evolution of the Moon, its surface characteristics, and its potential for resource extraction. While lunar elemental abundances have been successfully derived using model-dependent X-ray spectroscopy, these methods often require concurrent high-quality solar monitoring and intensive computational modeling, which can limit spatial coverage. Here we used X-ray fluorescence line intensities of O, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, and Fe derived from 5 yr of data from the Chandrayaan-2 Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer (CLASS) to generate global O/Si, Mg/Si, Al/Si, Mg/Al, Ca/Si, and Fe/Si line intensity ratio maps at a resolution of 5.3 km pixel ⁻¹ . We have developed an independent data analysis methodology for CLASS, based on open source Python packages. Our analysis shows that Mg/Al and Al/Si line intensity ratios serve as effective empirical proxies for major geochemical terranes, showing good correlation with published elemental maps, returned sample data, and the Apollo 15 and 16 X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (XRFS) maps. Further, we apply Gaussian mixture models to the Mg/Si versus Al/Si density maps to map geochemically distinct regions on the Moon that could be of interest for future investigations.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{kumar2026lunar,
  title = {{Lunar Geochemistry from X-Ray Line Flux Ratios Using CLASS on Chandrayaan-2}},
  author = {R. Kumar and Y. Rai and S. Srijan and A. Bansal and Ameya V. Singh and A. Kumar and H. Mhatre and M. Goyal and S. Swain and S. Patidar and Aditya P. Saikia and A. Ahmad and S. Narendranath and Netra S. Pillai and R. Kashyap and V. Bhalerao},
  journal = {The Planetary Science Journal},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3847/psj/aeb09a},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/aeb09a},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Lunar Geochemistry from X-Ray Line Flux Ratios Using CLASS on Chandrayaan-2
AU  - R. Kumar
AU  - Y. Rai
AU  - S. Srijan
AU  - A. Bansal
AU  - Ameya V. Singh
AU  - A. Kumar
AU  - H. Mhatre
AU  - M. Goyal
AU  - S. Swain
AU  - S. Patidar
AU  - Aditya P. Saikia
AU  - A. Ahmad
AU  - S. Narendranath
AU  - Netra S. Pillai
AU  - R. Kashyap
AU  - V. Bhalerao
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/28
JO  - The Planetary Science Journal
DO  - 10.3847/psj/aeb09a
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/aeb09a
AB  - Global lunar chemical maps are essential for understanding the origin and evolution of the Moon, its surface characteristics, and its potential for resource extraction. While lunar elemental abundances have been successfully derived using model-dependent X-ray spectroscopy, these methods often require concurrent high-quality solar monitoring and intensive computational modeling, which can limit spatial coverage. Here we used X-ray fluorescence line intensities of O, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, and Fe derived from 5 yr of data from the Chandrayaan-2 Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer (CLASS) to generate global O/Si, Mg/Si, Al/Si, Mg/Al, Ca/Si, and Fe/Si line intensity ratio maps at a resolution of 5.3 km pixel ⁻¹ . We have developed an independent data analysis methodology for CLASS, based on open source Python packages. Our analysis shows that Mg/Al and Al/Si line intensity ratios serve as effective empirical proxies for major geochemical terranes, showing good correlation with published elemental maps, returned sample data, and the Apollo 15 and 16 X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (XRFS) maps. Further, we apply Gaussian mixture models to the Mg/Si versus Al/Si density maps to map geochemically distinct regions on the Moon that could be of interest for future investigations.
SN  - 2632-3338
ER  -