- Terra Nivium
Terra Nivium (
latin for "Land of Snows") is a roughly triangular highland region on theMoon . In his "Almagestum Novum", the notable selenographerGiovanni Riccioli named the various highland regions terrae. However, unlike his naming scheme for craters and lunar maria, his nomenclature for the continental areas of the Moon never came into common use.It lies to the north of the
Mare Vaporum and is bounded along the northwest by the ruggedMontes Apenninus range, and to the northeast by the less impressiveMontes Haemus mountains. Portions of this area have been penetrated by flows of magma that connect to the Mare Vaporum.This irregular area contains a number of smaller depressions that have become covered in flows of
basalt iclava s. These form what are essentially miniature lunar maria. They are clustered near the southern borders of the area, and fill much of the terrain between Mare Vaporum and the Montes Haemus. These mare-like features are generally irregular in shape, and many are joined together through gaps between the more rugged islands of continental terrain.These areas are listed in the table below, ordered from west to east. The listed diameter is actually the smallest circle that fully contains the feature.
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