Definition
The lunar mare, formed by ancient volcanic eruptions, is one of the main geographical units on the lunar surface (Peters and Grabarek 2011). It is mostly distributed on the lunar nearside and is associated with large impact basins. The lunar mare exhibits low albedo and elevation that was misunderstood by early astronomers to be water. Therefore, they termed these dark and low areas “mare” which means “seas” in Latin. However, modern technology has improved our understanding of the lunar mare. The dark color is ascribed to abundant iron content rather than the presence of oceans.
Characteristics of Lunar Mare
Lunar mare is largely divided into five main types: Maria, Oceanus, Sinus, Palus, and Lacus. Oceanus is mostly distributed on the far side of the moon and is similar to Maria in landform. But, unlike Maria, the bottom of the Oceanus is not filled with black basalt lava. Parts of the mare that extends into the highlands are called Sinus and Palus. Smaller mare formations...
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References
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Ma, M. (2018). Lunar Landscape, Maria. In: Cudnik, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Lunar Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05546-6_46-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05546-6_46-1
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