Current Evidence of Lunar Lava Tubes and Associated Surface Features

This dataset compiles geophysical and surface evidence for lunar lava tubes and associated surface features in shapefile format. The files are provided as part of the study “New Lunar Lava-Tube Candidates From the High-Resolution GRAIL GL1800F Gravity Model” by Losarcos and Dombard.

The dataset is divided into four compressed shapefile packages:

• Lines.zip includes sinuous rilles wider than 1 km, identified using the numbering scheme of Hurwitz et al. (2013), and collapse chains described by Sauro et al. (2020).
• Points.zip includes point-based geophysical and surface evidence for lava tubes and associated structures reported by Hong and Yi (2022), Kaku et al. (2017), Le Corre et al. (2025), Williams and Montési (2025), and Carrer et al. (2024).
• Polygons.zip includes areas of gravity anomalies interpreted as lunar lava-tube candidates by Chappaz et al. (2017) and Zhu et al. (2024).
• Pit-Locations.zip includes the locations of lunar pits and skylights obtained from the LROC QuickMap pit database.

Each .zip package contains the complete set of files required to use the shapefile, including the geometry file (.shp), index file (.shx), attribute table (.dbf), and projection file (.prj). All shapefiles retain the coordinate reference system exported by LROC QuickMap. Coordinates are provided as lunar geographic longitude and latitude in degrees, using a spherical Moon with a radius of 1,737,400 m, as specified in the accompanying .prj files

For use in LROC QuickMap, the compressed shapefile packages should not be extracted. Upload the .zip files directly to QuickMap.

References

• Carrer, L., Pozzobon, R., Sauro, F., Castelletti, D., Patterson, G. W., & Bruzzone, L. (2024). Radar evidence of an accessible cave conduit on the Moon below the Mare Tranquillitatis pit. Nature Astronomy, 8(9), 1119–1126. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02302-y
• Chappaz, L., Sood, R., Melosh, H. J., Howell, K. C., Blair, D. M., Milbury, C., & Zuber, M. T. (2017). Evidence of large empty lava tubes on the Moon using GRAIL gravity. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(1), 105–112. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071588
• Hong, I.-S., & Yi, Y. (2022). Plausible detection of feasible cave networks beneath impact melt pits on the Moon using the GRAIL mission. Remote Sensing, 14(16), 3926. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14163926
• Hurwitz, D. M., Head, J. W., & Hiesinger, H. (2013). Lunar sinuous rilles: Distribution, characteristics, and implications for their origin. Planetary and Space Science, 79–80, 1–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2012.10.019
• Kaku, T., Haruyama, J., Miyake, W., Kumamoto, A., Ishiyama, K., Nishibori, T., et al. (2017). Detection of intact lava tubes at Marius Hills on the Moon by SELENE (Kaguya) Lunar Radar Sounder. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(20), 10155–10161. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL074998
• Le Corre, D., Mason, N., Bernard-Salas, J., Mary, D., & Cox, N. (2025). New candidate cave entrances on the Moon found using deep learning. Icarus, 441, 116675. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2025.116675
• NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University. (2026). LROC QuickMap. Retrieved May 2026, from https://quickmap.lroc.asu.edu/
• Sauro, F., Pozzobon, R., Massironi, M., De Berardinis, P., Santagata, T., & De Waele, J. (2020). Lava tubes on Earth, Moon and Mars: A review on their size and morphology revealed by comparative planetology. Earth-Science Reviews, 209, 103288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103288
• Williams, E. A., & Montési, L. G. J. (2025). Crack development inside and around lunar lava tubes. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 130(3), e2024JE008553. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JE008553
• Zhu, K., Yang, M., Yan, X., Li, W., Feng, W., & Zhong, M. (2024). GRAIL gravity gradients evidence for a potential lava tube at Marius Hills on the Moon. Icarus, 408, 115814. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2023.115814