mare


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Latin for "sea," it is an area of basalt rock on the surface of the Moon created relatively recently by oozing lava. The plural form of mare is maria. It is thought that most maria formed as a result of impacts on the Moon; lava bled from cracks made in the Moon's surface and filled craters to form the dark "seas" visible from Earth. Maria are the youngest and most crater-free regions on the Moon's surface.