Mare Ingenii
Encyclopedia
Mare Ingenii is one of the few lunar mare
features on the far side of the Moon. The mare sits in the Ingenii basin. This basin material is of the Pre-Nectarian
epoch. The mare material located in Ingenii and the surrounding craters is of the Upper Imbrian
epoch. The dark circular feature which dominates this mare is the crater Thomson
(112 km diameter), with the overflow from Ingenii/Thomson directly to the east. Mare Ingenii is incompletely and thinly covered over much of its expanse with mare lava sheets. The best flooding occurs in the crater Thomson in the ENE part of the Mare Ingenii basin. The light grey crater to the south of Ingenii is Obruchev
.
The mare contains the second instance of a lunar pit on the moon and one of several outside the Earth to date.
Lunar mare
The lunar maria are large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth's Moon, formed by ancient volcanic eruptions. They were dubbed maria, Latin for "seas", by early astronomers who mistook them for actual seas. They are less reflective than the "highlands" as a result of their iron-rich compositions, and...
features on the far side of the Moon. The mare sits in the Ingenii basin. This basin material is of the Pre-Nectarian
Pre-Nectarian
The Pre-Nectarian Period of the lunar geologic timescale runs from 4533 million years ago to 3920 million years ago, when the Nectaris Basin was formed by a large impact. It is followed by the Nectarian period...
epoch. The mare material located in Ingenii and the surrounding craters is of the Upper Imbrian
Upper Imbrian
In the Lunar geologic timescale, the Late Imbrian epoch occurred between 3800 million years ago to about 3200 million years ago. It was the epoch during which the mantle below the lunar basins partially melted and filled them with basalt...
epoch. The dark circular feature which dominates this mare is the crater Thomson
Thomson (crater)
Thomson is a lunar crater that is located within the Mare Ingenii on the far side of the Moon. Just to the northeast is the unusual merged crater formation of Van de Graaff. On the northwest rim of the mare is O'Day, and to the south-southwest is Obruchev on the southern shore of Mare Ingenii.In...
(112 km diameter), with the overflow from Ingenii/Thomson directly to the east. Mare Ingenii is incompletely and thinly covered over much of its expanse with mare lava sheets. The best flooding occurs in the crater Thomson in the ENE part of the Mare Ingenii basin. The light grey crater to the south of Ingenii is Obruchev
Obruchev (crater)
Obruchev is a disintegrating lunar crater that lies along the southern shore of Mare Ingenii, on the far side of the Moon. Less than three crater diameters to the south of Obruchev is the crater Chrétien, and about the same distance to the southeast lies Oresme.The outer rim of this crater has been...
.
The mare contains the second instance of a lunar pit on the moon and one of several outside the Earth to date.