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The Moon - A Full Description and Map of its Principal Physical Features by Thomas Gwyn Elger
page 28 of 235 (11%)
MOUNTAIN RANGES, ISOLATED MOUNTAINS, &c.--The more massive and extended
mountain ranges of the moon are found in the northern hemisphere, and
(what is significant) in that portion of it which exhibits few
indications of other superficial disturbances. The most prominently
developed systems, the _Alps_, the _Caucasus_, and the _Apennines_,
forming a mighty western rampart to the Mare Imbrium and giving it all
the appearance of a vast walled plain, present few points of resemblance
to any terrestrial chain. The former include many hundred peaks, among
which, Mont Blanc rises to a height of 12,000 feet, and a second, some
distance west of Plato, to nearly as great an altitude; while others,
ranging from 5000 to 8000 feet, are common. They extend in a south-west
direction from Plato to the Caucasus, terminating somewhat abruptly, a
little west of the central meridian, in about N. lat. 42 deg. One of the
most interesting features associated with this range is the so-called
great Alpine valley, which cuts through it west of Plato. The _Caucasus_
consist of a massive wedge-shaped mountain land, projecting southwards,
and partially dividing the Mare Imbrium from the Mare Serenitatis, both
of which they flank. Though without peaks so lofty as those pertaining to
the Alps, there is one, immediately east of the ring-plain Calippus,
which, towering to 19,000 feet, surpasses any of which the latter system
can boast. The _Apennines_, however, are by far the most magnificent
range on the visible surface, including as they do some 3000 peaks, and
extending in an almost continuous curve of more than 400 miles in length
from Mount Hadley, on the north, to the fine ring-plain Eratosthenes,
which forms a fitting termination, on the south. The great headland Mount
Hadley rises more than 15,000 feet, while a neighbouring promontory on
the south-east of it is fully 14,000 feet, and another, close by, is
still higher above the Mare. Mount Huygens, again, in N. lat. 20 deg.,
and the square-shaped mass Mount Wolf, near the southern end of the
chain, include peaks standing 18,000 and 12,000 feet respectively above
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