Depth of Regolith Cover on Mercury's Polar Volatile Deposits as a Function of Time

Physics

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5400 Planetology: Solid Surface Planets, 6200 Planetology: Solar System Objects (New Field)

Scientific paper

Delay Doppler images of Mercury's polar regions show strong evidence for ice in the polar craters (Harmon and Slade, 1992; Harmon et al., 2001) More recent high resolution S-band (12.6 cm) and X-band (3.5 cm radar images show that the ice deposits at the north pole are buried under an average of 36 cm of regolith (Slade et al., 2004; Harcke et al., in preparation). We have modified the model of Crider and Vondrak (2003) initially developed to study lunar ice traps, to calculate the thickness of regolith cover as a function of time. This model treats burial and removal of material from impacts of meteoroids with mass greater than 1 mg. In addition we treat ice deposition and loss by sublimation, sputtering and photon-stimulated desorption by interstellar radiation. We assume realistic values for an ice layer that would be deposited by a comet impact, and we assume continual bombardment by micrometeoritic and cometary dust. We discuss the probable timing of comet impacts at both the north and south poles of Mercury.

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