National Air and Space Museum Image Detail

Graben Illustration

Graben are troughs formed when the lunar crust was stretched and pulled apart. This stretching causes the near-surface materials to break along two parallel normal faults, the terrain in between the twin faults drops down forming a valley.

Image Number: WEB12312-2012
Credit: Arizona State University, Susan Selkirk/Smithsonian
For print or commercial use, please contact: Smithsonian Institution
Reproductions are not currently available. If you would like to use this image as-is, please submit a permission request.

Large JPEG (1108 x 2250 pixels)

Share your photos of our museums on Flickr! http://www.flickr.com/groups/airandspace