| Across the north-eastern plains of the Sea of Tranquiility, more
than 500 km from the Apollo 11 landing site, lie two magnificent near-parallel
cracks in the Moon's surface, both more than 200 km long. Rupes and Rima
Cauchy (the Cauchy scarp and rille) are named after the bright 12 km diameter
impact crater Cauchy that lies between them. Both features were formed
after the massive lava flows that formed the sea had cooled and had begun
to settle, and they were caused by a localised stretching apart of the
lunar crust. The images above do not show the features of the area very
well and may be improved in the future as sources permit. |
