Dawes (lunar crater)

Dawes is a lunar impact crater, named after William Rutter Dawes, and which is located in the wide straight between Mare Serenitatis and Mare Tranquilitatis. To the southwest is the larger crater Plinius. To the northeast is the Mons Argaeus mountain rise.

This is a circular crater with a sharp rim that has a slightly flattened oval perimeter. It has a slight central rise, and a somewhat darker floor that is nearly covered in overlapping swirl-like deposits. Much of the deposits are slumped or fall-back material. The inner walls are steep and free from impact erosion.

Detailed examination of this crater have located what appear to be alcoves and channels along the inner rim. It is hypothesized that micrometeorite impacts along the rim trigger dry landslides, which produce a gully-like appearance. A similar phenomenon may be responsible for gully-like features along the inner rim of some Martian craters.