Geology Of Mercury Essay

The theory of plate tectonics states that the Earth’s lithosphere (top layer of the Earth’s crust) is split up into rigid sections called plates that are moving relative to one another as they move on top of the underlying semi-molten mantle. These plates are either continental, The North American Plate, or oceanic, The Nazca Plate.

Plate tectonics is the theory that has been studied for over thirty years that states that the outside layer of Earth are actually large plates, approximately forty kilometers thick, that slide across the magma beneath the exterior of the planet. The theory of plate tectonics explains the enormous amount of volcanic and seismic activity surrounding certain areas of the world, stating that the sliding of these plates either away from each other, sliding past each other, or sliding into each other and causing one of the plates to slide beneath the other. When the plates slide away from each other, new ocean floor is formed. When the plates slide past each other, minor earthquakes will occur. When the plates slide toward each other and

One of these terrestrial planets, Mercury is the topic of the next section. Mercury, one of the smallest planets, has a surface similar to that of a moon because it is cratered with some smoother areas. However, it is distinct from the moon in that the plains are the same color as the cratered areas. Mercury

Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, is a rocky planet. The heavily cratered planet suggests that meteors or comets were frequent many, many years ago. Mercury's boulder littered surface and pale gray appearance slightly resembles Earth's moon. Like Mars, Mercury is covered in pulverized dust. What Mercury lacks in this, is weather. Muggle probes bring images to us that show no signs of wind, dust storms, or clouds. No rivers have been found on Mercury. Lack of clouds and rivers, (and oceans) suggests that there is no water on the closest planet to the Sun, Mercury. One of Mercury's most famous craters is Caloris basin, which is 1550 km in diameter. Another of Mercury's most famous craters is called Rachmaninoff. Rachmaninoff is 306 km in diameter. These two very large craters were created by astroids impacting the planet in Mercury's early history.

Mars inhabits Olympus Mons, the largest volcano and second-highest known mountain in the Solar System, and of Valles Marineris, one of the largest canyons in the Solar

Mercury, named after the Roman God of Thievery, Commerce, and Travel, is the first planet from the Sun. It is unique because it shows at both morning rise and evening set of the sun. It is rocky, heavily cratered, covered in boulders, and also pulverized dust. The majority of it's surface bears a strong resemblance to that of Earth's moon. It's lack of atmosphere causes wild temperature fluctuations. Temperatures can range from 90 kelvin to 700 kelvin thus creating a planet, from all observations, that cannot sustain life--it is geologically dead. Mercury also has a magnetic field generated by the planet's core that can deflect solar wind and which has a magnetosphere that changes. This was surprising for such a slow rotating planet--one that rotates completely every 88 Earth days.

The surface of Mercury is rather geologically barren. When looking at the surface of Mercury using a magical telescope (as the muggle telescopes are not as powerful), the planets surface looks very similar to Earth's moon. Grey colored dust covers the planet. Because of being pelted with meteors during the Late Heavy Bombardment period 3.8 billion years ago, thousands of impact craters cover the surface. The largest known crater on Mercury is called the Caloris Basin and is about 1550 km across with its ring being nearly 2 km in height. Along with the numerous craters, the surface of Mercury also has escarpments, mountains and valleys that were likely formed due to volcanic activity.

Hello! Today you will learn about the planet Mercury! YEAH!!! I hope you find Mercury quite interesting (just like I did when I was researching) and enjoy this presentation and have your minds blown… BOOM! Now, let 's gain some knowledge… Oh! One more thing, you might want to take some notes as I 'm reading this because they might come in handy later so get out those notebooks or post-it-notes or what ever. Ok, Now let 's gain some knowledge.

The planet mercury is a little bit similar to the Earth's moon. Like our Moon, Mercury's surface is covered with craters caused by space rock the planet Mercury looks a little impacts. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and the eighth largest. It has a diameter of 4,880 kilometres. Mercury has a thick iron core and a thinner outer crust of rocky material. The surface of Mercury has enormous escarpments as much as three kilometres high and hundreds of kilometres in length. In addition to its heavily cratered surface Mercury also has a region of relatively smooth plains. Because it has almost no atmosphere to retain heat, Mercury's surface experiences the greatest temperature variation of the planets in the Solar System, ranging from 100

Mars: Mars is the fourth and last planet in the inner solar system. It has two moons; Phobos (Fear) and Deimos (Panic).

The surface geography on Mercury is quite rocky with no signs of life in the past or in the present. In addition to no signs of life, the surface of the planet is also void of any evidence of weather, rivers, water, and atmosphere. There is however, plenty of evidence of meteors having crashed into the surface, much like our moon. There is evidence of large meteor craters and some smaller ones, with some even overlapping each other. These multiple meteor collisions have caused huge boulders to be peppered across the surface of Mercury as well as dust from the surface to be continually moved across the surface. Build-up of dust, boulders, and impacts of craters cause areas of higher and lower terrain making the planet’s surface rough and uneven.

The pieces that make up the crust and mantle are called tectonic plates. They’re always slowly moving, and they can slide past each other or even bump into one another. The edges of these pieces, or plates, are called plate boundaries. They have lots of faults, which are the surfaces where they slip past each other, and these faults are where most earthquakes happen.

The geology of the moon and mercury are very similar due to certain key aspects, but there are also a few qualities that differentiate the two bodies. The Moon has a radius of 1738km in comparison with Mercury, the smallest of the major planets with a radii of 2440km. The average density of the Moon is 3.37 g/cm3 that is consistent with basaltic silicates. Like Earth the Moon has a layered system, consisting of a crust, mantle, and core. From the radius and the mass Mercury has a mean density of 5.4 g/cm3 which implies a dense iron (Fe) core. Just as the Moon consists of an iron core with a softer molten liquid iron outer core. The outer core is believed to extend out as far as 500km. The Moons core only holds 2% of its mass. Since Mercury is low in mass there is less heat stored from formation its core is probably sold rather than liquid. The lunar surface of the Moon is grey and tan, with a low albedo. Albedo is the reflective properties of planets, satellites, and asteroids. Mercury also has a low albedo, which signifies that the

Mercury is a rocky planet. The surface is heavily cratered like Earth’s moon. Mercury is also covered with boulders and pulverized dust. There is no sign of weather at all, be it clouds or rivers, dust storms or anything. Mercury is geologically dead. Mercury has dorsa, moon-like highlands, montes, planitiae, rupes, and valles. Mercury was heavily bombarded by comets and asteroids. The largest known crater is Caloris Basin with a diameter of 1550km. There are two different types of distinct geographic plains that can be seen on the surface of Mercury. The gently, rolling, hilly plains which are the oldest visible surface on the planet and smooth plains which are widespread flat areas that fill various areas. One feature that is odd would be the rupes, which crisscross the planet’s surface. Rupes are compression folds.

The continental crust consists of igneous and sedimentary rocks. The oceanic crust consists of the same with a substantial layer of sediments above the rock. The crust covers the outer ridged layer of the earth called the lithosphere. The lithosphere is divided into seven main continental plates. These continental plates are constantly moving on a viscous base.