Wargentin is an unusual lunar impact crater

Impact crater

In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...

 which has been filled to its rim by a basalt

Basalt

Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...

ic lava

Lava

Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...

 flow, forming a raised plateau

Plateau

In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...

. When the lava flow occurred, it erupted from within the crater walls and proceeded to accumulate until overrunning the lowest portion of the rim. Some blockage then prevented the lava flow from returning to equilibrium. Since the time when this occurred, some ejecta has been deposited across the top, giving the surface a higher albedo than is typical for deposits of basalt.

The rim of Wargentin is somewhat worn and is overlain by a few small craters. The outer wall climbs to a height of 0.3 km above the surrounding terrain

Terrain

Terrain, or land relief, is the vertical and horizontal dimension of land surface. When relief is described underwater, the term bathymetry is used...

. A spoked pattern of wrinkle ridges can be discerned on the surface, radiating from the center of the crater.

Wargentin is located on the approaches to the southwest lunar, so that it appears elongated when viewed from the Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

. It is connected along the southeast rim to the slightly smaller crater Nasmyth

Nasmyth (crater)

Nasmyth is a lunar crater located near the southwestern limb of the Moon. It is attached to the southeast rim of the flooded crater Wargentin, and the southern half is overlain by the larger Phocylides....

, which is in turn overlaid by the larger Phocylides

Phocylides (crater)

Phocylides is a lunar crater located near the southwest rim of the Moon. It overlays the south rim of the crater Nasmyth to the north. To the northwest is the unusual plateau formation of Wargentin. Eastward is the merged formation Schiller, and in the southwest lies Pingré.The outer wall of...

. To the northeast is the much larger walled plain Schickard

Schickard (crater)

Schickard is a lunar impact crater of the form called a walled plain. It lies in the southwest sector of the Moon, near the lunar limb. As a result the crater appears oblong due to foreshortening. Attached to the northern rim is the lesser crater Lehmann, and to the northeast is the even smaller...

.

Satellite craters

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater mid-point that is closest to Wargentin.

Wargentin	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
A	47.1° S	59.1° W	21 km
B	51.4° S	67.6° W	18 km
C	47.4° S	61.2° W	12 km
D	51.0° S	65.1° W	16 km
E	50.9° S	66.9° W	16 km
F	51.5° S	66.1° W	20 km
H	47.4° S	60.1° W	9 km
K	48.3° S	57.8° W	7 km
L	48.1° S	58.2° W	11 km
M	48.1° S	58.9° W	7 km
P	48.7° S	56.6° W	9 km