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Geologic map of the west side of the Moon

D. H. Scott·J.F. McCauley·M.N. West
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Abstract

The west limb region of the M oon consists of highly cratered terra rising 5 km or more above the mare of Oceanus Procellarum and most of the lunar near side. Crustal material in this area of large basins and craters has been redistributed repeatedly by giant impacts. The early historical record of these events is apparently preserved in a complex of interlayered breccias, which may be partly exposed in the walls of the larger craters. Orientale, the last multiringed basin, was formed early in lunar history during the wanning stages of high impact flux by a large body probably impacting the surface obliquely from the northeast. Ejecta from this impact was widely scattered by over the Moon and appears to form some of the plains materials. Although the major landforms of the Oriental basin were developed instantaneously in geologic terms, isostatic adjustments were more protracted; the accompanying structural dislocations including concentric and radial faults in the floor material may have continued u p to the time of mare basalt flooding after basin formation. Subsequent impacts have produced craters generally less than 60 km diameter.

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D. H. Scott, J.F. McCauley, M.N. West. 1977. Geologic map of the west side of the Moon. https://doi.org/10.3133/i1034

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