Moon, surface features

Moon, surface features

The surface of the Moon is characterized by light-colored highlands interspersed with much lower albedo (i.e. darker) and less rugged maria. The oldest and largest features on the Moon are the vast impact basins. These grade into large craters, with which highland areas are saturated. There is no evidence for plate tectonics on the Moon but faults, rilles, wrinkle and lobate ridges, domes, ghost craters, and volcanic plateaus are the expressions of past tectonic and igneous activity. Impact features include rays, dark halo craters, secondary craters (including crater clusters and crater chains), and textured ejecta blankets. See also mountains, lunar.