MESSENGER's First Mercury Flyby: New Insights Into Geological Processes and History

Details MESSENGER's First Mercury Flyby: New Insights Into Geological Processes and History MESSENGER's First Mercury Flyby: New Insights Into Geological Processes and History

May 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agusm.u23a..05h&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2008, abstract #U23A-05

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6235 Mercury

Scientific paper

In January 2008, the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft successfully completed the first of three flybys of Mercury. The Mercury Dual Imaging System acquired color and high-resolution image data of regions previously unseen by spacecraft. These new data show that smooth plains are abundant in the newly imaged portion of Mercury; plains show evidence for sequential embayment of impact crater interiors and exteriors typical of volcanic flooding processes. Different plains units have contrasting albedo, color, and crater densities, supporting a volcanic origin for at least some smooth plains. Tectonic scarps and wrinkle ridges are widely distributed on the newly imaged regions. The full Caloris basin was imaged, and the interior plains and exterior plains of Caloris have different albedo, color, and crater densities. The central part of the Caloris basin is characterized by an unusual array of graben radiating from a central point. Evidence for the volcanic and magmatic origin of portions of the surface of Mercury include a floor- fractured crater, suggestive of shallow intrusion and upbowing, and a kidney-shaped depression with an unusual surrounding bright deposit similar to volcanic vents seen on other planetary bodies. These data, together with those from other instruments in the payload provided baseline measurements that will aid in the interpretation of data from the mission orbital phase.

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