Into the lake of death!
The ‘Lake of Death’ (Lacus Mortis) lies in the northeastern part of the Moon, north of Mare Serenitatis, and is either an ancient crater or a basin, which has been flooded by lava. It is about 150 km in diameter with the crater Burg, which was formed less than a million years ago, situated approximately in the centre. Lacus Mortis was named by selenographer Giovanni Riccioli in 1651 but he gave no reason for its strange name.
Lacus Mortis also contains one of the few “true” faults found on the Moon and you can see it (marked with an orange arrow) in the image below starting at the southern boundary of Lacus Mortis and going north before finally turning into a rille. (See the first link under Useful Links for more images of the fault).
The western half of Lacus Mortis also contains several rilles, the main one of which is Rimae Burg which is over a 100 km in length and is a graben. Where this rille crosses the boundary between Lacus Mortis and the highlands in the southwest, there are some volcanic cones – see link #4 under Useful Links for more information.
[ACT-REACT Image]
A larger image containing feature names will be found here: LROC Context Image
Burg crater, within Lacus Mortis, is worth exploring as it has many boulder tracks and some nice landslide textures on the western crater wall. See links #2 and #3 under Useful Links for more information.
Strip: M113778346LE
Boulder tracks within Burg crater
Landslide textures from inner wall of Burg crater, western side.
Useful Links
A true fault in Lacus Mortis: Lacus Mortis Fault
Boulder tracks within Burg crater: A Gathering in Lacus Mortis
Description of Burg crater: Not your average complex crater
Volcanic domes: Volcanoes in the Lake of Death
A mystery! Tidbits of Strangeness
Aristarchus
Terrain forming a cross near Aristarchus crater
This week I’m concentrating on the Aristarchus region. Aristarchus crater was named after the Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos by an Italian mapmaker called Giovanni Riccioli.
The crater is relatively young, being formed approximately 450 million years ago and is one of the brightest craters on the nearside with an albedo almost double that of other similar features. It has a diameter of between 40 and 45km and a depth of 3.7km.
The following image of the Moon was taken by Jules and shows Aristarchus as the bright spot in the top left quadrant. It can be seen by the naked eye.
Jules
The Aristarchus area of the Moon is one of the most interesting and diverse regions on the nearside. It consists of a rectangular shaped plateau about 200km across which is located in the middle of the vast Oceanus Procellarum mare. This plateau was probably uplifted and tilted when the Imbrium basin was formed and has experienced much volcanic activity. The largest sinuous rille known, Vallis Schroteri, is found here and is about 160km long and up to 11km wide. The second article at the end of this post has a very interesting description of the head of the Vallis Schroteri rille and some great images.
The Aristarchus region has had many transient lunar phenomena (TLP) reported. When the Apollo 15 lander passed over this region in 1971 it recorded a significant rise in alpha particles which was believed to be caused by the decay of Radon-222. This radioactive gas has a half-life of only 3.8 days and is thought to be released through tidal stresses.
The following image shows the Aristarchus region. Aristarchus crater is on the left with Herodotus crater on the right and the Vallis Schroteri rille starting below it.
Nasa image from the Apollo 15 Mapping Camera
Some images of the Aristarchus area posted by users of the Moon Zoo forum:
Part of the collapsed walls of Aristarchus. Geoff
ID: AMZ400432i
Latitude: 24.199° / Longitude: 312.434°
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Impact melt in Aristarchus crater. Tom128
# ID: AMZ10036sv
# Latitude: 24.3744° / # Longitude: 312.405°
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Interesting terrain in Aristarchus area. DJ_59
ID: AMZ300013p
Latitude: 23.9853° / Longitude: 312.908°
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More interesting terrain. Thornius
# ID: AMZ2000985
# Latitude: 23.5672° / # Longitude: 312.451°
Articles
An article from LROC about the geology of the central peak of Aristarchus crater and how the different rock types exposed by the impact help geologists to see what the interior of the Moon is made from.
Aristarchus – Up from the Depths
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An article from the Space Fellowship site discussing the Cobra Head feature which is thought to be the source vent of a tremendous outflowing of lava that formed the Vallis Schroteri rille.
Moon Zoo 