Polygonal impact craters on mercury

Autor(en)

Gregor Weihs, Johannes Leitner, Maria Gertrude Firneis

Abstrakt

The existence of polygonal impact craters (PICs) on Mercury is confirmed by this study, which was performed by analyzing 291 named impact craters greater than 12 km in diameter, photographed by the spacecraft Mariner 10 and MESSENGER. All 15 quadrangles of Mercury were scanned for polygonal impact craters with at least two straight rim segments. A resulting total number of 33 PICs out of the 291 named impact craters is in accordance with the expectation of 10-15% out of all impact craters. Calculations were performed on the number of PICs per quadrangle, on the distribution of polygonal impact craters on the surface, on the distribution of diameters, on the mean values of diameters, and the values of the angles between straight rims and the results plotted. The distribution of PICs per quadrangle does not follow any pattern, but is roughly proportional to the number of impact craters. The diameter range of the PICs lies between 65 and 240 km, on average the value is about 120 km. Some topics need further studies - the lack of small PICs, the interrelations of PICs and geological environments, and the irregular distribution of PICs on the surface showing large empty areas.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Astrophysik

Externe Organisation(en)

Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, University of Waterloo (UW)

Journal

Planetary and Space Science

Band

111

Seiten

77 - 82

Anzahl der Seiten

6

ISSN

0032-0633

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2015.03.014

Publikationsdatum

06-2015

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

103003 Astronomie, 103004 Astrophysik

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Astronomy and Astrophysics, Space and Planetary Science

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/polygonal-impact-craters-on-mercury(c8ba98e2-d66c-4ce8-ab76-7fbe66804eb6).html