Geological Chronicle
Located on the lunar far side directly west of the walled plain Hertzsprung, Vavilov spans 98.22 kilometers in diameter near the equator. The formation dates to the Copernican period of the lunar geologic timescale, remaining young enough to retain faint remnants of a ray system. These rays begin roughly one-third of a crater diameter beyond the rim and extend for several crater diameters in all directions.
Vavilov is a well-defined feature that has undergone minimal erosion from subsequent impacts. Its outer rim is roughly circular with a pair of slight outward bulges to the southeast, while the inner walls display several terraces. The region directly to the west on the outer rim forms some of the highest areas near the equator on the Moon.
The interior floor is roughly level, featuring a central ridge offset to the west of the midpoint and low hills in the southeast. Spectroscopic identification found anorthosite with very low mafic abundance and the infrared spectrum of pure crystalline plagioclase on the central peak, with crystalline plagioclase also present on the northeast floor and north wall.
The crater is named after brothers Nikolai Vavilov, a Soviet botanist, and Sergei Vavilov, a Soviet physicist. The International Astronomical Union officially adopted the designation in 1970.