Rille
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Rille (German for 'groove') is typically used to describe any of the long, narrow depressions in the lunar surface that resemble channels. (It is pronounced the same as a secondary name for a river in Normandy in France. See Risle.) Typically a rille can be up to several kilometers wide and hundreds of kilometers in length. However, the term has also been used loosely to describe similar structures on a number of planets in the solar system, including Mars, Venus, and on a number of moons. All bear remarkable structural resemblance to each other.
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[edit] Structures
Three types of rille are found on the lunar surface:
- Sinuous rilles meander in a curved path like a mature river, and are commonly thought to be the remains of collapsed lava tubes or extinct lava flows. They usually begin at an extinct volcano, then meander and sometimes split as they are followed across the surface.
- Arcuate rilles have a smooth curve and are found on the edges of the dark lunar maria. There are believed to form when the lava flows that created a mare cool, contract, and sink.
- Straight rilles follow long, linear paths and are believed to be grabens, sections of the crust that have sunk between two parallel faults. These can be readily identified when they pass through craters or mountain ranges.
[edit] Formation
Precise formation mechanisms of rilles have yet to be determined. It is likely that different types formed by different processes. Common features shared by lunar rilles and similar structures on other bodies suggest that common causative mechanisms operate widely in the solar system. Leading theories include lava channels, collapsed lava tubes, near-surface dike intrusion, subsidence of lava-covered basin and crater floors, and tectonic extension.
[edit] References
- Ewen A. Whitaker, Mapping and Naming the Moon, Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-521-62248-4.
