In dimension it is the third-largest crater formation on the visible Moon, being beaten only by Clavius (231 km) and by the 303-kilometer-diameter walled plain Bailly.

The northern and eastern parts of the floor display a relatively level surface, but it is pock-marked with numerous craters.

There is a small region of mare material, due to basaltic lava, along the eastern interior floor.

The satellite crater Hell Q lies at the center of a patch of higher albedo surface located in the eastern half of Deslandres.

This feature is so heavily eroded and degraded by overlapping impacts that it was not actually recognized as a crater formation until the 20th century.