Mare Crisium is a lunar mare

Lunar mare

The lunar maria are large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth's Moon, formed by ancient volcanic eruptions. They were dubbed maria, Latin for "seas", by early astronomers who mistook them for actual seas. They are less reflective than the "highlands" as a result of their iron-rich compositions, and...

 located in the Moon

Moon

The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

's Crisium basin, just northeast of Mare Tranquillitatis

Mare Tranquillitatis

Mare Tranquillitatis is a lunar mare that sits within the Tranquillitatis basin on the Moon. The mare material within the basin consists of basalt formed in the intermediate to young age group of the Upper Imbrian epoch. The surrounding mountains are thought to be of the Lower Imbrian epoch, but...

. This basin is of the Pre-Imbrian

Lunar geologic timescale

The lunar geological timescale divides the history of Earth's Moon into five generally recognized periods: the Copernican, Eratosthenian, Imbrian , Nectarian, and Pre-Nectarian...

 period, 4.55 to 3.85 billion years ago. This mare is 555 km (344.9 mi) in diameter, and 176,000 km² in area. It has a very flat floor, with a ring of wrinkled ridges toward its outer boundaries. Ghost craters, craters that have largely been buried under deposits of other material, are located to the south.

A soil sample from Mare Crisium was successfully brought to Earth on 22 August 1976 by the Soviet lunar mission Luna 24

Luna 24

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.

The crater has many notable features in and around it. The cape-like feature protruding into the southeast of the mare is Promontorium Agarum

Promontorium Agarum

Promontorium Agarum is a raised mountainous cape protruding into the southeast of Mare Crisium on the near side of the Moon. Its selenographic coordinates are 14.0° N, 66.0° E and it is 70 km in diameter....

. On the western rim of the mare is the palimpsest Yerkes

Yerkes (crater)

Yerkes is a lunar crater near the western edge of Mare Crisium. In the past the interior of this crater has been almost completely inundated by lava, leaving only a shallow remnant of a rim above the mare. The rim is widest on the western and southern portions, and barely existent to the east,...

. The crater

Impact crater

In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...

 Picard

Picard (crater)

Picard is a lunar impact crater that lies in Mare Crisium. To the west is the almost completely flooded crater Yerkes. Due east of Picard is the tiny Curtis. being slightly larger than Peirce to the north-northwest...

 is located just to the east of Yerkes, and northwest of Picard is the crater Peirce

Peirce (crater)

Peirce is a small lunar crater, named in honor of the mathematician Benjamin Peirce, which lies in the western part of Mare Crisium. That dark, circular lunar mare is located in the east-northeasterly part of the Moon's near side. Peirce lies to the north of the craters Yerkes and Picard, and...

. Mare Anguis

Mare Anguis

Mare Anguis is a lunar mare located on the near side of the Moon, about 150 kilometers in diameter. Located within the Crisium basin, Mare Anguis is a part of the Nectarian System, meaning that it was formed during the Nectarian time period. Like most mare, the surface of Mare Anguis is dark,...

 can be seen northeast of Mare Crisium. Mare Crisium is the site of the Luna 15

Luna 15

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 crash in 1969.

In Robert A. Heinlein's novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is a 1966 science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, about a lunar colony's revolt against rule from Earth....

Mare Crisium is the site of a Lunar Colony, named Luna City.