CEPS: Graben Crosscut Craters

Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University/Smithsonian Institution
February 20, 2012
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Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University/Smithsonian Institution

A series of graben in a patch of mare basalts that occupy a valley south of Mare Humorum cut across and deformed several small diameter impact craters. The walls and floors of the graben crosscut a degraded 27 m diameter crater (inset, upper white arrow) and a 7 m diameter crater (inset, lower white arrow). Since small craters only have a limited lifetime before they are destroyed by other impacts, their deformation by graben indicates that these fault-bound troughs are relatively young.