Origin of Surface Features of the Moon,

The usual lava-pool hypothesis of lunar tectonics seem incompatible with numerous features of the lunar surface, in addition to leaving other features unexplained. The lunar-body hypothesis, on the other hand, does not encounter similar difficulties and it provides simple explanations for many hitherto puzzling characteristics of the lunar surface. A simple calculation combining the Hertz theory of elastic contact with the Griffith biaxial theory of fracture explains the flatness of the crater floor, and the terraced wall the polygonal shape of the identation craters and the tangential rays around them are inertia effects due to the near-sonic velocity of crack propagation. Modified author abstract