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Mercury’s global contraction much greater than earlier estimates

Nature Geoscience volume 7, pages 301–307 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Mercury, a planet with a lithosphere that forms a single tectonic plate, is replete with tectonic structures interpreted to be the result of planetary cooling and contraction. However, the amount of global contraction inferred from spacecraft images has been far lower than that predicted by models of the thermal evolution of the planet’s interior. Here we present a synthesis of the global contraction of Mercury from orbital observations acquired by the MESSENGER spacecraft. We show that Mercury’s global contraction has been accommodated by a substantially greater number and variety of structures than previously recognized, including long belts of ridges and scarps where the crust has been folded and faulted. The tectonic features on Mercury are consistent with models for large-scale deformation proposed for a globally contracting Earth—now obsolete—that pre-date plate tectonics theory. We find that Mercury has contracted radially by as much as 7 km, well in excess of the 0.8–3 km previously reported from photogeology and resolving the discrepancy with thermal models. Our findings provide a key constraint for studies of Mercury’s thermal history, bulk silicate abundances of heat-producing elements, mantle convection and the structure of its large metallic core.

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Figure 1: Primary styles of thrust faulting on Mercury.
Figure 2: Shortening structures on Mercury.
Figure 3: A Mercury fold-and-thrust belt (FTB).

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Acknowledgements

We thank C. M. Ernst and N. L. Chabot (The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, JHU/APL) for the incidence angle maps shown in Supplementary Fig. 2b, c and H. J. Melosh (Purdue University) for his constructive advice during the preparation of this paper. We also thank W. B. McKinnon for comments that substantially improved this manuscript. The MESSENGER project is supported by the NASA Discovery Program under contracts NASW-00002 to the Carnegie Institution of Washington and NAS5–97271 to JHU/APL. This research has made use of NASA’s Astrophysics Data System and Planetary Data System.

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Author notes

  1. Paul K. Byrne

    Present address: Present address: Lunar and Planetary Institute, Universities Space Research Association, Houston, Texas 77058, USA.,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC 20015, USA

    Paul K. Byrne, Christian Klimczak & Sean C. Solomon

  2. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Universities Space Research Association, Houston, Texas 77058, USA

    Paul K. Byrne

  3. Department of Geology, Faculty of Mines and the Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences, Istanbul Technical University, 34469 Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey

    A. M. Celâl Şengör

  4. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA

    Sean C. Solomon

  5. Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA

    Thomas R. Watters

  6. Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA

    Steven A. Hauck, II

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Contributions

P.K.B. and C.K. led the study, carried out data analyses and documented the findings; P.K.B., C.K., A.M.C.S. and S.A.H. wrote the manuscript and P.K.B. prepared the figures. A.M.C.S. led the historical review of the description and interpretation of contractional landforms on Earth. S.C.S. and T.R.W. participated in scientific discussions. All authors contributed to the interpretation of results and to the finalization of the submitted manuscript.

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Correspondence to Paul K. Byrne.

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Byrne, P., Klimczak, C., Celâl Şengör, A. et al. Mercury’s global contraction much greater than earlier estimates. Nature Geosci 7, 301–307 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2097

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