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Multiring Basin, Orientale Type

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Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms

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Definition

Large circular impact structure that possesses at least two concentric asymmetric scarps, one of which may be the original crater rim (Melosh 1989).

Category

A type of multiring basin.

Synonyms

If lava-covered: mare (on the Moon); Multiringed basin

Note

This article does not discuss lava cover in multiring basins: see mare. The basin discussed here (the crater cavity) is the feature underlying the mare lavas.

Description

Orientale-type multiring basins exhibit a nearly symmetric internal peak ring inside the crater rim and one or several additional rings, which are asymmetric scarps, outside the rim of the crater (Collins 2002). Some researchers find as many as six concentric rings in the largest lunar basins. Basin rings – both interior and exterior ones – are spaced at a constant factor, √2, defined by Hartmann and Kuiper (1962): the diameter of any given ring is a multiple of an integer power of √2 or

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering Technology, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University Heights, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA

    Laramie V. Potts

  2. Planetary Science Research Group, Eötvös Loránd University, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Budapest, Hungary

    Henrik Hargitai

Authors
  1. Laramie V. Potts
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  2. Henrik Hargitai
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Correspondence to Laramie V. Potts .

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Potts, L.V., Hargitai, H. (2014). Multiring Basin, Orientale Type. In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_511-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_511-1

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