The Cordillera of the Apenninus form the southeast portion of the main ring of the Imbrium Basin. It rises 2-5 km above the surface of the seas. For comparison, the Pike's Peak on Earth Rocky Mountains has an elevation of 4.3 km above the sea level.

The mountains Wolff Mons, Mons Ampere, Mons Huygens, Bradley Mons, Mons Hadley Delta and Mons Hadley belong to the range of Apenninus Montes.

Mons Huygens is the highest mountain with 5042 meters.

The mountains Mons Hadley Delta and Mons Hadley is best known because they form the valley that was visited by the Lunar Module "Falcon" mission APOLLO 15, on June 30, 1971 (location indicated by a circle in the picture). In this mission the astronauts David Scott and James Irwin landed in front of Apenninus and spent three days conducting fieldwork and sampling, which makes these mountains a focal point of intensive scientific study on the Moon.

The great mountain range of topographic relief of Apenninus is a product of the complex interaction between the Imbrium impact basin formation and the pre-existing characteristics in the region, especially Insularum and Serenitatis basins. The lunar multi-ring basins like Imbrium craters are large, complex impact. The lunar impact basins formed between 3.92 and 3.72 billion years ago formed through collisions with large asteroids. Later, most of these characteristics huge impact on the Earth-facing side were filled with basalt. In fact, Imbrium refers to basalts Imbrium filling the basin and not the basin itself. From studies done in the last 40 years of the rocks brought back by Apollo 15, we now know that the event that formed the Imbrium basin actually happened several hundred million years before the eruption of basalts that filled the Imbrium basin

The initial impact that formed the Imbrium excavated and rearranged a huge amount of crustal material from the highlands. Major structural elevation then occurred along the front of Apenninus on the site where it landed ejects material excavated.

After the sediment ejects, sunken areas occurred along the front and caused great seismic disturbances. A ring formation theory indicates that the material fall to the center of the basin during the modification phase of the crater is responsible for the rings viewed in lunar basins multi-ring impact. Other scientists say multiple rings formed by the intrinsic properties of the primordial lunar crust.

Also in-situ studies are needed to understand the formation of basins with multiple rings and its influence on the geological evolution of the Moon and other planetary bodies as well. The high-resolution images of Apeninus the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera will provide data to help illuminate their morphological and mineralogical intricacies and determine targets for future human lunar exploration.

Source: Apollo Image Archive / Arizona State University - Vaz Tolentino Lunar Observatory

Adaptation and text: Avani Soares