Investigating the origin of candidate lava channels on Mercury with MESSENGER data: Theory and observations
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Author(s)
Hurwitz, Debra M.
Head, James W.
Byrne, Paul K.
Xiao, Zhiyong
Solomon, Sean C.
Zuber, Maria
Smith, David Edmund
Neumann, Gregory A.
Date Issued
March 2013
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Citation
Hurwitz, Debra M., James W. Head, Paul K. Byrne, Zhiyong Xiao, Sean C. Solomon, Maria T. Zuber, David E. Smith, and Gregory A. Neumann. “Investigating the Origin of Candidate Lava Channels on Mercury with MESSENGER Data: Theory and Observations.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets 118, no. 3 (March 2013): 471–486. .
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Volcanic plains identified on Mercury are morphologically similar to lunar mare plains but lack constructional and erosional features that are prevalent on other terrestrial planetary bodies. We analyzed images acquired by the MESSENGER spacecraft to identify features on Mercury that may have formed by lava erosion. We used analytical models to estimate eruption flux, erosion rate, and eruption duration to characterize the formation of candidate erosional features, and we compared results with analyses of similar features observed on Earth, the Moon, and Mars. Results suggest that lava erupting at high effusion rates similar to those required to form the Teepee Butte Member of the Columbia River flood basalts (0.1–1.2 × 106 m3 s–1) would have been necessary to form wide valleys (>15 km wide) observed in Mercury's northern hemisphere, first by mechanical erosion to remove an upper regolith layer, then by thermal erosion once a lower rigid layer was encountered. Alternatively, results suggest that lava erupting at lower effusion rates similar to those predicted to have formed Rima Prinz on the Moon (4400 m3 s–1) would have been required to form, via thermal erosion, narrower channels (<7 km wide) observed on Mercury. Although these results indicate how erosion might have occurred on Mercury, the observed features may have formed by other processes, including lava flooding terrain sculpted during the formation of the Caloris basin in the case of the wide valleys, or impact melt carving channels into impact ejecta in the case of the narrower channels.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1029/2012je004103
