Formation of Lunar Volcanoes

Abstract

WHILE we have, on the lunar surface, a series of markings so evidently volcanic that no one thinks of applying any other term to them, we have on the other hand no explanation of their mode of formation which will stand examination. The explanation given by Messrs. Nasmyth and Carpenter in their splendid work on the moon, founded upon explosive expulsion of lava, fails to satisfy the mind when applied to wide craters with a low wall such as Shickard or Grimaldi, of which there are so many on the moon, and which look more like some disturbance in a semi-liquid surface than an accumulation of volcanic débris.