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Chuck

LUNAR GRABEN SYSTEMS

BK Lucchitta & JA Watkins, Ages of Graben Systems on the Moon.  Proc. Lunar & Planet. Sci. 9, 3459-3472 (1978).

This paper recognized that lunar rilles,or graben, typically are not isolated features, but are clustered into groups or systems. Rilles within a system presumably have a related origin. The rilles in these systems are mostly linear and arcuate rilles, not sinuous ones.   CAW

Graben Cluster

ID

Length on Mare

DL (m) of Mare w/ Graben

DL of Flooding Mare

Fecunditatis

FE

303

330

-

Fra Mauro

FM

0

-

185-250

Frigoris

FR

0

-

-

Humorum East

HE

1203

290-310

235-270

Humorum West

HW

321

300-390

290-300

Imbrium Northeast

IN

59

nd

235-250

Imbrium Southeast

IS

15

nd

180-270

Lacus Mortis

LM

140

nd

-

Lacus Somniorum

LS

150

310

-

Mare Vaporum

MV

702

310-335

235

Mare Vaporum

MV

7

235

235

Orientale East

OE

0

-

280-295

Orientale North

ON

45

380

110-210

Orinetale Northeast

ONE

34

240

190-210

Petavius-Furnerius

PF

15

nd

-

Procellarum

P

30

230

175-230

Serenitatis East

SE

274

305

225-255

Serenitatis East

SE

211

nd

-

Serenitatis South

SS

620

300-320

250-260

Serenitatis West

SW

15

nd

225-275

Tranquillitatis East

TE

425

300-350

-

Tranquillitatis West

TW

900

285-320

-

Note: I don't agree with all of these names because they imply connections with specific basins, which may not always be true. DL is a measure of the age of a lunar surface, based on models of crater erosion. The lower the number the younger the surface; thus all DL values for maria that flood rilles (i.e., are younger) are smaller than the Dl values for the maria cut by the rilles.