Insights into the history of the inner solar system can be derived from the impact cratering record of the Moon, Mars, Venus, and Mercury and from the size distributions of asteroid populations. Old ...craters from a unique period of heavy bombardment that ended approximately3.8 billion years ago were made by asteroids that were dynamically ejected from the main asteroid belt, possibly due to the orbital migration of the giant planets. The impactors of the past approximately3.8 billion years have a size distribution quite different from that of the main belt asteroids but very similar to that of near-Earth asteroids.
The most heavily cratered terrains on Mercury have been estimated to be about 4 billion years (Gyr) old, but this was based on images of only about 45 per cent of the surface; even older regions ...could have existed in the unobserved portion. These terrains have a lower density of craters less than 100 km in diameter than does the Moon, an observation attributed to preferential resurfacing on Mercury. Here we report global crater statistics of Mercury's most heavily cratered terrains on the entire surface. Applying a recent model for early lunar crater chronology and an updated dynamical extrapolation to Mercury, we find that the oldest surfaces were emplaced just after the start of the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB) about 4.0-4.1 Gyr ago. Mercury's global record of large impact basins, which has hitherto not been dated, yields a similar surface age. This agreement implies that resurfacing was global and was due to volcanism, as previously suggested. This activity ended during the tail of the LHB, within about 300-400 million years after the emplacement of the oldest terrains on Mercury. These findings suggest that persistent volcanism could have been aided by the surge of basin-scale impacts during this bombardment.
► We count small craters on both young and old surfaces using LROC and Kaguya data. ► Craters in 2 diameter ranges are counted for each counting area and then compared. ► Discrepancies occur in the ...results and the contamination of secondaries is one reason. ► Steep upturns in size distributions are caused by secondaries but not primaries. ► Lunar and martian small primaries have flat slopes like the Population 2 craters.
The small crater populations (diameter smaller than 1km) are widely used to date planetary surfaces. The reliability of small crater counts is tested by counting small craters at several young and old lunar surfaces, including Mare Nubium and craters Alphonsus, Tycho and Giordano Bruno. Based on high-resolution images from both the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera and Kaguya Terrain Camera, small craters in two different diameter ranges are counted for each counting area. Large discrepancies exist in both the cumulative (absolute model ages) and relative plots for the two different size ranges of the same counting areas. The results indicate that dating planetary surfaces using small crater populations is highly unreliable because the contamination of secondaries may invalidate the results of small crater counts. A comparison of the size–frequency distributions of the small crater populations and impact ejected boulders around fresh lunar craters shows the same upturn as typical martian secondaries, which supports the argument that secondaries dominate the small crater populations on the Moon and Mars. Also, the size–frequency distributions of small rayed lunar and martian craters of probable primary origin are similar to that of the Population 2 craters on the inner Solar System bodies post-dating Late Heavy Bombardment. Dating planetary surfaces using the small crater populations requires the separation of primaries from secondaries which is extremely difficult. The results also show that other factors, such as different target properties and the subjective identification of impact craters by different crater counters, may also affect crater counting results. We suggest that dating planetary surfaces using small crater populations should be with highly cautious.
•The northern volcanic plains of Mercury were emplaced in at least two episodes.•The most recent episode resurfaced the full area of recognized plains deposits.•The volume of northern plains material ...is at least 4×106 to 107km3.
MESSENGER orbital images show that the north polar region of Mercury contains smooth plains that occupy ~7% of the planetary surface area. Within the northern smooth plains (NSP) we identify two crater populations, those superposed on the NSP (“post-plains”) and those partially or entirely embayed (“buried”). The existence of the second of these populations is clear evidence for volcanic resurfacing. The post-plains crater population reveals that the NSP do not exhibit statistically distinguishable subunits on the basis of crater size–frequency distributions, nor do measures of the areal density of impact craters reveal volcanically resurfaced regions within the NSP. These results suggest that the most recent outpouring of volcanic material resurfaced the majority of the region, and that this volcanic flooding emplaced the NSP over a relatively short interval of geologic time, perhaps 100My or less. Stratigraphic embayment relationships within the buried crater population, including partial crater flooding and the presence of smaller embayed craters within the filled interiors of larger craters and basins, indicate that a minimum of two episodes of volcanic resurfacing occurred. From the inferred rim heights of embayed craters, we estimate the NSP to be regionally 0.7–1.8km thick, with a minimum volume of volcanic material of 4×106 to 107km3. Because of the uncertainty in the impact flux at Mercury, the absolute model age of the post-plains volcanism could be either ∼3.7 or ∼2.5Ga, depending on the chronology applied.
The origin of plains on Mercury, whether by volcanic flooding or impact ejecta ponding, has been controversial since the Mariner 10 flybys (1974-75). High-resolution images (down to 150 meters per ...pixel) obtained during the first MESSENGER flyby show evidence for volcanic vents around the Caloris basin inner margin and demonstrate that plains were emplaced sequentially inside and adjacent to numerous large impact craters, to thicknesses in excess of several kilometers. Radial graben and a floor-fractured crater may indicate intrusive activity. These observations, coupled with additional evidence from color images and impact crater size-frequency distributions, support a volcanic origin for several regions of plains and substantiate the important role of volcanism in the geological history of Mercury.
During its first two flybys of Mercury, the MESSENGER spacecraft acquired images confirming that pervasive volcanism occurred early in the planet's history. MESSENGER's third Mercury flyby revealed a ...290-kilometer-diameter peak-ring impact basin, among the youngest basins yet seen, having an inner floor filled with spectrally distinct smooth plains. These plains are sparsely cratered, postdate the formation of the basin, apparently formed from material that once flowed across the surface, and are therefore interpreted to be volcanic in origin. An irregular depression surrounded by a halo of bright deposits northeast of the basin marks a candidate explosive volcanic vent larger than any previously identified on Mercury. Volcanism on the planet thus spanned a considerable duration, perhaps extending well into the second half of solar system history.
Morphologies and size-frequency distributions of impact craters on Mercury imaged during MESSENGER's first flyby elucidate the planet's geological history. Plains interior to the Caloris basin ...displaying color and albedo contrasts have comparable crater densities and therefore similar ages. Smooth plains exterior to Caloris exhibit a crater density ~40% less than on interior plains and are thus volcanic and not Caloris impact ejecta. The size distribution of smooth-plains craters matches that of lunar craters postdating the Late Heavy Bombardment, implying that the plains formed no earlier than 3.8 billion years ago (Ga). At diameters less than or equal to 8 to 10 kilometers, secondary impact craters on Mercury are more abundant than primaries; this transition diameter is much larger than that on the Moon or Mars. A low density of craters on the peak-ring basin Raditladi implies that it may be younger than 1 Ga.
The Caloris basin, the youngest known large impact basin on Mercury, is revealed in MESSENGER images to be modified by volcanism and deformation in a manner distinct from that of lunar impact basins. ...The morphology and spatial distribution of basin materials themselves closely match lunar counterparts. Evidence for a volcanic origin of the basin's interior plains includes embayed craters on the basin floor and diffuse deposits surrounding rimless depressions interpreted to be of pyroclastic origin. Unlike lunar maria, the volcanic plains in Caloris are higher in albedo than surrounding basin materials and lack spectral evidence for ferrous iron-bearing silicates. Tectonic landforms, contractional wrinkle ridges and extensional troughs, have distributions and age relations different from their counterparts in and around lunar basins, indicating a different stress history.
MESSENGER observations from Mercury orbit reveal that a large contiguous expanse of smooth plains covers much of Mercury's high northern latitudes and occupies more than 6% of the planet's surface ...area. These plains are smooth, embay other landforms, are distinct in color, show several flow features, and partially or completely bury impact craters, the sizes of which indicate plains thicknesses of more than 1 kilometer and multiple phases of emplacement. These characteristics, as well as associated features, interpreted to have formed by thermal erosion, indicate emplacement in a flood-basalt style, consistent with x-ray spectrometric data indicating surface compositions intermediate between those of basalts and komatiites. The plains formed after the Caloris impact basin, confirming that volcanism was a globally extensive process in Mercury's post—heavy bombardment era.
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