Evaluating an impact origin for Mercury's high-magnesium region. Frank, E. A., Potter, R. W. K., Abramov, O., James, P. B., Klima, R. L., Mojzsis, S. J., & Nittler, L. R. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 122(3):614–632, March, 2017. ![Evaluating an impact origin for Mercury's high-magnesium region [link]](https://bibbase.org/img/filetypes/link.svg "link")
Paper doi abstract bibtex During its four years in orbit around Mercury, the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft's X-ray Spectrometer revealed a large geochemical terrane in the northern hemisphere that hosts the highest Mg/Si, S/Si, Ca/Si, and Fe/Si and lowest Al/Si ratios on the planet. Correlations with low topography, thin crust, and a sharp northern topographic boundary led to the proposal that this high-Mg region is the remnant of an ancient, highly degraded impact basin. Here we use a numerical modeling approach to explore the feasibility of this hypothesis and evaluate the results against multiple mission-wide data sets and resulting maps from MESSENGER. We find that an 3000 km diameter impact basin easily exhumes Mg-rich mantle material but that the amount of subsequent modification required to hide basin structure is incompatible with the strength of the geochemical anomaly, which is also present in maps of Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer data. Consequently, the high-Mg region is more likely to be the product of high-temperature volcanism sourced from a chemically heterogeneous mantle than the remains of a large impact event.
@article{frank_evaluating_2017,
title = {Evaluating an impact origin for {Mercury}'s high-magnesium region},
volume = {122},
copyright = {©2017. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.},
issn = {2169-9100},
url = {https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/2016JE005244},
doi = {10.1002/2016JE005244},
abstract = {During its four years in orbit around Mercury, the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft's X-ray Spectrometer revealed a large geochemical terrane in the northern hemisphere that hosts the highest Mg/Si, S/Si, Ca/Si, and Fe/Si and lowest Al/Si ratios on the planet. Correlations with low topography, thin crust, and a sharp northern topographic boundary led to the proposal that this high-Mg region is the remnant of an ancient, highly degraded impact basin. Here we use a numerical modeling approach to explore the feasibility of this hypothesis and evaluate the results against multiple mission-wide data sets and resulting maps from MESSENGER. We find that an 3000 km diameter impact basin easily exhumes Mg-rich mantle material but that the amount of subsequent modification required to hide basin structure is incompatible with the strength of the geochemical anomaly, which is also present in maps of Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer data. Consequently, the high-Mg region is more likely to be the product of high-temperature volcanism sourced from a chemically heterogeneous mantle than the remains of a large impact event.},
language = {en},
number = {3},
urldate = {2018-08-06},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets},
author = {Frank, Elizabeth A. and Potter, Ross W. K. and Abramov, Oleg and James, Peter B. and Klima, Rachel L. and Mojzsis, Stephen J. and Nittler, Larry R.},
month = mar,
year = {2017},
keywords = {MESSENGER, Mercury, geochemistry, impact},
pages = {614--632},
}
Downloads: 0
{"_id":"PBTbWLzrTfKw69JRd","bibbaseid":"frank-potter-abramov-james-klima-mojzsis-nittler-evaluatinganimpactoriginformercuryshighmagnesiumregion-2017","downloads":2,"creationDate":"2018-08-06T10:58:29.422Z","title":"Evaluating an impact origin for Mercury's high-magnesium region","author_short":["Frank, E. A.","Potter, R. W. K.","Abramov, O.","James, P. B.","Klima, R. L.","Mojzsis, S. J.","Nittler, L. R."],"year":2017,"bibtype":"article","biburl":"https://bibbase.org/zotero-group/sr516/2181636","bibdata":{"bibtype":"article","type":"article","title":"Evaluating an impact origin for Mercury's high-magnesium region","volume":"122","copyright":"©2017. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.","issn":"2169-9100","url":"https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/2016JE005244","doi":"10.1002/2016JE005244","abstract":"During its four years in orbit around Mercury, the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft's X-ray Spectrometer revealed a large geochemical terrane in the northern hemisphere that hosts the highest Mg/Si, S/Si, Ca/Si, and Fe/Si and lowest Al/Si ratios on the planet. Correlations with low topography, thin crust, and a sharp northern topographic boundary led to the proposal that this high-Mg region is the remnant of an ancient, highly degraded impact basin. Here we use a numerical modeling approach to explore the feasibility of this hypothesis and evaluate the results against multiple mission-wide data sets and resulting maps from MESSENGER. We find that an 3000 km diameter impact basin easily exhumes Mg-rich mantle material but that the amount of subsequent modification required to hide basin structure is incompatible with the strength of the geochemical anomaly, which is also present in maps of Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer data. Consequently, the high-Mg region is more likely to be the product of high-temperature volcanism sourced from a chemically heterogeneous mantle than the remains of a large impact event.","language":"en","number":"3","urldate":"2018-08-06","journal":"Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets","author":[{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Frank"],"firstnames":["Elizabeth","A."],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Potter"],"firstnames":["Ross","W.","K."],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Abramov"],"firstnames":["Oleg"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["James"],"firstnames":["Peter","B."],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Klima"],"firstnames":["Rachel","L."],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Mojzsis"],"firstnames":["Stephen","J."],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Nittler"],"firstnames":["Larry","R."],"suffixes":[]}],"month":"March","year":"2017","keywords":"MESSENGER, Mercury, geochemistry, impact","pages":"614–632","bibtex":"@article{frank_evaluating_2017,\n\ttitle = {Evaluating an impact origin for {Mercury}'s high-magnesium region},\n\tvolume = {122},\n\tcopyright = {©2017. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.},\n\tissn = {2169-9100},\n\turl = {https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/2016JE005244},\n\tdoi = {10.1002/2016JE005244},\n\tabstract = {During its four years in orbit around Mercury, the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft's X-ray Spectrometer revealed a large geochemical terrane in the northern hemisphere that hosts the highest Mg/Si, S/Si, Ca/Si, and Fe/Si and lowest Al/Si ratios on the planet. Correlations with low topography, thin crust, and a sharp northern topographic boundary led to the proposal that this high-Mg region is the remnant of an ancient, highly degraded impact basin. Here we use a numerical modeling approach to explore the feasibility of this hypothesis and evaluate the results against multiple mission-wide data sets and resulting maps from MESSENGER. We find that an 3000 km diameter impact basin easily exhumes Mg-rich mantle material but that the amount of subsequent modification required to hide basin structure is incompatible with the strength of the geochemical anomaly, which is also present in maps of Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer data. Consequently, the high-Mg region is more likely to be the product of high-temperature volcanism sourced from a chemically heterogeneous mantle than the remains of a large impact event.},\n\tlanguage = {en},\n\tnumber = {3},\n\turldate = {2018-08-06},\n\tjournal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets},\n\tauthor = {Frank, Elizabeth A. and Potter, Ross W. K. and Abramov, Oleg and James, Peter B. and Klima, Rachel L. and Mojzsis, Stephen J. and Nittler, Larry R.},\n\tmonth = mar,\n\tyear = {2017},\n\tkeywords = {MESSENGER, Mercury, geochemistry, impact},\n\tpages = {614--632},\n}\n\n","author_short":["Frank, E. A.","Potter, R. W. K.","Abramov, O.","James, P. B.","Klima, R. L.","Mojzsis, S. J.","Nittler, L. R."],"key":"frank_evaluating_2017","id":"frank_evaluating_2017","bibbaseid":"frank-potter-abramov-james-klima-mojzsis-nittler-evaluatinganimpactoriginformercuryshighmagnesiumregion-2017","role":"author","urls":{"Paper":"https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/2016JE005244"},"keyword":["MESSENGER","Mercury","geochemistry","impact"],"metadata":{"authorlinks":{}}},"search_terms":["evaluating","impact","origin","mercury","high","magnesium","region","frank","potter","abramov","james","klima","mojzsis","nittler"],"keywords":["messenger","mercury","geochemistry","impact"],"authorIDs":[],"dataSources":["pKrj8p4qNgHxcZqxx"]}