Geological Chronicle
The Montes Caucasus form a rugged lunar mountain range spanning 444 kilometers in the northeastern quadrant of the Moon's near side, centered at 38.4° N, 10.0° E. The chain forms the northwestern boundary of Mare Serenitatis, extending in an irregular band toward the north-northeast to the western flank of the crater Eudoxus. At its southern end, the range is separated from the neighboring Montes Apenninus by a 50-kilometer wide gap of level basalt plain that connects Mare Imbrium with Mare Serenitatis.
Planetary geologists identify Montes Caucasus as part of the massive uplifted crustal rim created during the excavation of major lunar impact basins in the Early Imbrian epoch. The tallest peaks across the chain reach heights of 6.0 kilometers above the adjacent volcanic maria. Several breaks occur along the southern flank where basalt lavas intruded into the mountainous structure during subsequent mare flooding.
The eastern flank of Montes Caucasus incorporates several distinctive impact features, including the 32-kilometer crater Calippus, which is embedded directly into the mountain mass. Farther north along the same flank, south of Eudoxus, lie the eroded remnants of the pre-Imbrian crater Alexander. German selenographer Johann Heinrich Mädler named the range after the Caucasus Mountains on Earth, and the International Astronomical Union formalized the designation in 1935. Unlike the Apennines or the Alps, none of the individual summits in Montes Caucasus have received separate official names.