page_title: Mare Imbrium
section_title: Characteristics
hierarchical_section_title: Mare Imbrium / Characteristics
caption_attribution_description: Українська: "Імбрійська скульптура" на Місяці (рельєф з хребтів та западин, що радіально розходяться від басейну Моря Дощів і з'явилися при падінні його викидів). Показаний регіон розташований у Гемських горах біля південно-західного краю Моря Ясності; це один із найкращих видимих із Землі прикладів такого рельєфу (Hartmann 1964, p.5). Кратер праворуч унизу&#160;— Добре. Мозаїка знімків космічного апарату Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, зроблених ширококутньою камерою (WAC). Розмір зображення&#160;— 170×130&#160;км, північ угорі.English: Imbrium sculpture on the Moon (relief of ridges and valleys, running radially from the basin of Mare Imbrium, formed due to falling of its ejecta). This region is situated in Montes Haemus, near southwestern edge of Mare Serenitatis; it is one of the most prominent examples of such relief, observable from Earth (Hartmann 1964, p.5). The crater in lower right is Daubrée. The image is a mosaic of photos by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, made with Wide Angle Camera. Size of the image is 170×130&#160;km, north is up.
context_page_description: Mare Imbrium is a vast lava plain within the Imbrium Basin on the Moon and is one of the larger craters in the Solar System. The Imbrium Basin formed from the collision of a proto-planet during the Late Heavy Bombardment. Basaltic lava later flooded the giant crater to form the flat volcanic plain seen today. The basin's age has been estimated using uranium–lead dating methods to 3938 ± 4 million years ago, the diameter of the impactor has been estimated to be 250 ± 25 km. The Moon's maria have fewer features than other areas of the Moon because molten lava pooled in the craters and formed a relatively smooth surface. Mare Imbrium is not as flat as it was originally thought, because later events have altered its surface.
context_section_description: With a diameter of 1145 km, Mare Imbrium is second only to Oceanus Procellarum in size among the maria, and it is the largest mare associated with an impact basin.
  The Imbrium Basin is surrounded by three concentric rings of mountains, uplifted by the colossal impact event that excavated it. The outermost ring of mountains has a diameter of 1300 km and is divided into several different ranges; the Montes Carpatus to the south, the Montes Apenninus to the southeast, and the Montes Caucasus to the east. The ring mountains are not as well developed to the north and west, and it appears they were simply not raised as high in these regions by the Imbrium impact. The middle ring of mountains forms the Montes Alpes and the mountainous regions near the craters Archimedes and Plato. The innermost ring, with a diameter of 600 km, has been largely buried under the mare's basalt leaving only low hills protruding through the mare plains and mare ridges forming a roughly circular pattern.
  The outer ring of mountains rise roughly 7 km above the surface of Mare Imbrium. The Mare material is thought to be about 5 km deep, giving the Imbrium Basin a total depth of 12 km; it is thought that the original crater left by the Imbrium impact was as much as 100 km deep, but that the floor of the basin bounced back upwards immediately afterwards.
  Surrounding the Imbrium Basin is a region blanketed by ejecta from the impact, extending roughly 800 km outward. Also encircling the basin is a pattern of radial grooves called the "Imbrium Sculpture", which have been interpreted as furrows cut in the Moon's surface by large projectiles blasted out of the basin at low angles, causing them to skim across the lunar surface ploughing out these features. The sculpture pattern was first identified by Grove Karl Gilbert in 1893. Furthermore, a Moon-wide pattern of faults which run both radial to and concentric to the Imbrium basin were thought to have been formed by the Imbrium impact; the event literally shattered the Moon's entire lithosphere. At the region of the Moon's surface exactly opposite Imbrium Basin, there is a region of chaotic terrain (the crater Van de Graaff) which is thought to have been formed when the seismic waves of the impact were focused there after travelling through the Moon's interior. Mare Imbrium is about 750 miles (1,210 km) wide.
  A mass concentration (mascon), or gravitational high, was identified in the center of Mare Imbrium from Doppler tracking of the five Lunar Orbiter spacecraft in 1968.  The Imbrium mascon is the largest on the moon.  The mascon was confirmed and mapped at higher resolution with later orbiters such as Lunar Prospector and GRAIL.
caption: Imbrium Sculpture to the southeast of Mare Imbrium, near Menelaus crater
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