The mare in the Tsiolkovskiy crater looks extremely flat and smooth at first glance. But if you stare carefully, you can find many tectonic features deforming this large plain; extension cracks, classic wrinkle ridges, and special wrinkle ridges that have a convex bulge shape.

Today's Featured Image is a portion of a narrow "bulging" wrinkle ridge (19.404°S, 127.343°E), 60 to 100 meters in width, extending in a northeast direction to the edge of the mare. Wrinkle ridges are common in the lunar mare and are believed to be a type of thrust fault. These ridges typically have a steep slope on one side and a shallow slope on the other. In this case, the ridge seems to have a uniform curved shape. Local tectonic conditions such as the thickness of mare, stress direction, and the layer strength affect the final shape of a ridge. Since this ridge has a unique shape, it is now targeted for future NAC stereo imaging. From the new stereo pair, scientists will make a detailed topographic map that will allow tectonic experts to better understand the nature of this feature and add to our knowledge of tectonism on the Moon.

LROC WAC 100 m/pixel monochrome mosaic of the area around Tsiolkovskiy crater. The center of the image is at longitude 128.71E, latitude -20.31N. The blue box and yellow arrow indicate the locations of full NAC frame and today's Featured Image [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Explore the full length of the "bulging" wrinkle ridge and other nearby tectonic features.

Related posts:
Tectonics in Mare Frigoris, Stress and pull, Relative age relationships, Zebra Stripes, Right Angle, Wrinkle ridge in Oceanus Procellarum, Sinuous Chain of Depressions