Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Dec 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.u11c..07r&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #U11C-07
Mathematics
Logic
5464 Remote Sensing, 5470 Surface Materials And Properties, 5480 Volcanism (6063, 8148, 8450), 6235 Mercury
Scientific paper
The origin of Mercury's smooth plains has remained one of the large unanswered questions since the Mariner 10 images were returned more than 30 years ago. The MESSENGER spacecraft's first flyby of Mercury (January 2008) revealed important evidence of a volcanic origin for smooth plains, including volcanic vents, flooding and embayment relations, and distinctive spectral properties. Preliminary geologic mapping based on the January 2008 MESSENGER images (200-1000 m/pixel) shows that like the region imaged by Mariner 10, smooth plains cover over 40% of the surface. The extent of smooth plains on Mercury is significantly greater than lunar smooth plains (maria), which cover only 16% of the Moon's surface. The Caloris basin interior is filled with smooth plains that exceed 1.5 million square km in areal extent. Significantly, much of the newly discovered smooth plains, including those in Caloris, exhibit distinct color boundaries that correspond to their morphologic margins, a characteristic shared with lunar mare deposits, but not lunar highland plains. The new MESSENGER data strengthen the argument that much of Mercury's smooth plains are volcanic in origin but do not prove this hypothesis. However, smooth plains with volcanic signatures, such as the Caloris interior smooth plains, indicate that volcanism was originated from broad zones of partial melting in the upper mantle. The ubiquity of smooth plains (if all are volcanic in origin) demonstrates that global compressive stresses in Mercury's lithosphere were not of sufficient magnitude to preclude widespread volcanic activity, at least for an interval in the Calorian. The second MESSENGER Mercury flyby (6 October 2008) will reveal more unseen terrain and re-image portions of the surface viewed by Mariner 10 with more modern cameras, as well as targeted ultraviolet through near-infrared spectral measurements. The combined MESSENGER and Mariner 10 data will allow us to analyze and present detailed morphologic, color, and spectral characterization of smooth plains across more than 80% of Mercury. Our goal is to determine the emplacement mechanisms for smooth plains and estimate their composition. Volcanic deposits represent our best, and perhaps only, look into the planet's mantle and thus bulk composition. Definitive resolution of the nature and composition of the full suite of smooth plains may be possible only after MESSENGER spends a significant amount of time in orbit about Mercury collecting data with its full complement of science instruments.
Blewett Dave T.
Denevei B. W.
Head James W.
McNutt Ralph L.
Murchie Scott L.
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