Extended Data Fig. 5: Th abundance around the Chang’e-6 landing site.
From: KREEP-like lithologies in the South Pole–Aitken basin reworked by the Apollo basin impact at 4.16 Ga
(a) The hemispheric thorium (Th) element mapping29 shows the Th distribution relationships between the South-Pole Aitken (SPA) basin and Apollo basin where the CE-6 mission landed (Solid red dot); It is evident that the region around the SPA center (estimated transient crater; red circle) show elevated Th abundance, but the Apollo basin region shows lower Th abundance than its surroundings along the SPA topographic rim; Color bar represents the Th abundance. (b) The enlarged Th mapping shows the Th variations between the CE-6 sampling site and the nearby Chaffee S crater to the northwest. The Chaffee S crater region shows a slightly higher Th abundance than to its eastern. The Th-bearing ejecta material from the Chaffee S crater are highly likely to have been delivered into the CE-6 sampling site area. Red and white lines represent the boundary of SPA estimated transient crater72 and SPA Compositional Anomaly (SPACA) region6, respectively, which are marked in the image (a).
