Gibran (crater)
Crater on Mercury
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Gibran is a crater on Mercury and is in the east of the Shakespeare quadrangle. It was named after Lebanese-American poet Khalil Gibran in 2009.[1] Gibran is located east of the rayed crater of Degas and nearby Damer.
An image of Gibran and surrounding regions; arrow indicates pit crater within Gibran in the bottom inset | |
| Feature type | Impact crater |
|---|---|
| Location | Shakespeare quadrangle, Mercury |
| Coordinates | 35.73°N 111.44°W |
| Diameter | 106 km (66 mi)[1] |
| Eponym | Khalil Gibran[1] |
The crater was discovered by the Mariner 10 spacecraft in 1974, but was not named until 2009. It contains a large (29 × 29 km), nearly circular pit crater.[2]
Multiple examples of pit craters have been observed on Mercury on the floors of impact craters, leading to the name pit-floor craters for the impact structures that host these features (see also Beckett, Glinka, and Picasso). Unlike impact craters, pit craters are rimless, often irregularly shaped, steep-sided, and often display no associated ejecta or lava flows.[2] These pit craters are thought to be evidence of shallow volcanic activity and may have formed when retreating magma caused an unsupported area of the surface to collapse, creating a pit. They are analogs of Earth's volcanic calderas.[2] Pit-floor craters may provide an indication of internal igneous processes where other evidence of volcanic processes is absent or ambiguous. The discovery of multiple pit-floor craters augments evidence that volcanic activity has been a widespread process in the geologic evolution of Mercury's crust.[3]
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Mariner 10 image with Gibran at bottom center
Approximate color image by MESSENGER
