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Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms pp 1–8Cite as

Crater Rim

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Definition

The crater rim is the edge of the crater typically elevated above the original ground surface. The maximum elevation of the rim is the rim crest.

Synonyms

Basin rim (for basins), Rampart (Elger 1895, obsolete), Ring mountain (obsolete)

Related Term

Rimless crater, rim crest

Description

The crater rim consists of autochthonous, structurally elevated bedrock (Poelchau et al. 2009) overlaid by a thick layer of overturned allochthonous (displaced) ejecta (impact) (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Cross section of crater rim (Watters 2010). (h r ) Rim height, (h u ) stratigraphic uplift (Melosh 1989)

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, 3665 Discovery Dr, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA

    Stuart Robbins

  2. Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Veronica J. Bray

  3. Planetary Science Research Group, Eötvös Loránd University, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Budapest, Hungary

    Henrik Hargitai

Authors
  1. Stuart Robbins
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  2. Veronica J. Bray
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  3. Henrik Hargitai
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stuart Robbins .

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Robbins, S., Bray, V.J., Hargitai, H. (2014). Crater Rim. In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_78-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_78-2

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-9213-9

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