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The geology of Mercury is the scientific study of the surface, crust, and interior of the planet Mercury. It emphasizes the composition, structure, history, and physical processes that shape the planet.
Mercury appears to have a solid silicate crust and mantle overlying a solid, metallic outer core layer, a deeper liquid core layer, and a solid inner core. [ 28 ] [ 29 ] The composition of the iron-rich core remains uncertain, but it likely contains nickel, silicon and perhaps sulfur and carbon, plus trace amounts of other elements. [ 30 ]
Mercury has an observed magnetic field, which is believed to be generated within its metallic core. [28] Mercury's core occupies 85% of the planet's radius, making it the largest core relative to the size of the planet in the Solar System; this indicates that much of Mercury's surface may have been lost early in the Solar System's history. [33]
Mercury, being the closest to the Sun, with a weak magnetic field and the smallest mass of the recognized terrestrial planets, has a very tenuous and highly variable atmosphere (surface-bound exosphere) containing hydrogen, helium, oxygen, sodium, calcium, potassium and water vapor, with a combined pressure level of about 10 −14 bar (1 nPa). [2]
The Mariner 10 mission (1974) mapped about half the surface of Mercury. On the basis of that data, scientists have a first-order understanding of the geology and history of the planet. [4] [5] Mercury's surface shows intercrater plains, basins, smooth plains, craters, and tectonic features.
Mercury in the Solar System has a metallic core equal to 60–70% of its planetary mass, and is sometimes called an iron planet, [36] though its surface is made of silicates and is iron-poor. Iron planets are thought to form in the high-temperature regions close to a star, like Mercury, and if the protoplanetary disk is rich in iron. Icy planet
MESSENGER was a NASA robotic space probe that orbited the planet Mercury between 2011 and 2015, studying Mercury's chemical composition, geology, and magnetic field. [9] [10] The name is a backronym for Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging, and a reference to the messenger god Mercury from Roman mythology.
Surface features of Mercury by quadrangle (15 C, 16 P) S. Scarps on Mercury (11 P) Pages in category "Surface features of Mercury" The following 26 pages are in this ...