 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°44′N111°26′W / 35.73°N 111.44°W /35.73; -111.44 |
| Diameter | 106 km (66 mi)[1] |
| Eponym | Khalil Gibran[1] |
Gibran is acrater onMercury and is in the east of theShakespeare quadrangle. It was named after Lebanese-American poetKhalil Gibran in 2009.[1] Gibran is located east of the rayed crater ofDegas and nearbyDamer.
The crater was discovered by theMariner 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 namepit-floor craters for the impact structures that host these features (see alsoBeckett,Glinka, andPicasso). Unlikeimpact 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 volcaniccalderas.[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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