Mercury Surface Essay

The plates are in constant motion. Where they interact, along their margins, important geological processes take place, such as the formation of mountain belts, earthquakes, and volcanoes” (Spall 1). Plate tectonics are one of the most influential factors of earthquakes. When tectonic plates slide past each other an earthquake occurs. Typical plate tectonics move at about the same rate your fingernail grows. The process is extremely slow before the plate moves significantly enough to cause an earth quake but it does happen. These tectonic plates are on the fault lines which are considered earthquake hot spots.

These plates, along with several smaller ones, are called the lithospheric plates, because they are part of the lithosphere, which is the outermost part of the Earth's shell. . The plate boundaries can be three different types: divergent, transform or subduction. Divergent boundaries occur when the plates are moving away from each other. Transform boundaries are where the plates slide against each other with a back and forth motion. Subduction boundaries occur when an oceanic plate moves under a continental plate. This movement causes volcanic activity and earthquakes. (This boundary is also called convergent.) This activity is always happening, because the plates are constantly in

Mercury appears to have similarities to Earth's moon. Like our moon, Mercury’s surface is covered with craters that scientists believe could have been caused by space rock impacts. The temperature of Mercury ranges from 640 degrees Fahrenheit to -180 degrees Fahrenheit. Even though the planet Mercury is the closest to the sun, it is not the warmest planet. Also, Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system.

Named such as ‘Fear’ and ‘Panic’ respectively, for the sons of Ares, (the Greek God of War, also known by the Romans as Mars) and Aphrodite, Greek for Venus, the Greek Goddess of Love. Believed not to be moons created by Mars, they are said to have been large rocks simply trapped in Mars’ gravity. They are very rough and cratered in appearance. Phobos is the larger of the two, at 28 kilometers long, and 20 kilometers wide. Phobos is also covered by a 10 kilometer wide crater named Stickney, such named for the wife of the man who discovered these moons, Asaph Hall, who found them in 1877. Phobos is also believed to have an orbit that will eventually decay, causing it to drop into Mars’ surface. Deimos, the little brother, is smaller, at just 16 kilometers long and 10 kilometers wide. Deimos’ largest crater is only 2.3 kilometers in diameter. Both of these moons are estimated to be roughly 2000 kilograms per square meter. Another similarity these moons share, is the fact that they only reflect about 6 percent of the sunlight that falls on

Convergent Boundary- At convergent boundaries, two plates move toward one another, colliding and pushing into each other. The plate that is made of oceanic crust can slide down beneath another plate, which forms a deep narrow trench. As one is pushed under the other, the plate begins to melt, which causes a line of volcanoes to form that are in a parallel line to the trench. If both tectonic plates are continental crust, the plates will collapse or break up as they collide, which forms a high mountain

Mercury's surface is very similar to that of our very own moon. Just like our moon, It has a dark grey, rocky surface. It is known to be quite porous and covered in many craters. It is strewn with quite a few boulders and lots of dust. Interestingly enough, the lunar-like surface layer only runs about 500-600 kilometers deep into the small planet, where it meets Mercury's iron-rich core. As far as sustaining life, Mercury is geologically dead, and according to research done over the course of years, it has been for quite some time. This is apparent from its barren landscape, and lack of weather patterns. Data shows no record of dust storms, clouds or any form of weather, reassuring us of its similarity to our Earth's moon.

These large sections between he cracks are called tectonic plates. Most of the major tectonic plates are in the Lithosphere- Earth's outermost layer. The major plates in the Lithosphere are the African plate, Antarctic plate, Eurasian plate, Indo-Australian plate, North American plate, Pacific plate and South American plate. The cracks in between these plates are boundaries. There are three main types of boundaries between the tectonic plates. The first is a divergent boundary, which occurs when two tectonic places move away from each other. Volcanic activity is common along this boundary A rift valley can also be created from this type of boundary The next is a convergent boundary, which happens when two tectonic plates come together. There are two kinds of surface feature that are associated with a convergent boundary, deep ocean trenches and volcanic and non-volcanic mountain ranges. The last is a transform boundary, when is when two plates slide against each other. The transform boundary is more commonly known as the fault boundary The most common surface activity associated with this boundary are

Some examples of this kind of plate boundary are, oceanic-oceanic or oceanic continental convergent boundaries which can both lead to the formation of trenches in the ocean. Continental-Continental divergent plates happen when two continental plates pull apart from another causing rock in between them to drop deeper and deeper and if it drops low enough it may be filled with water. Oceanic-oceanic divergent two plates are pushed apart by the continual expansion of magma at the mid-ocean ridge causing it to expand and subdue underneath another plate and

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

The rest is made up of nitrogen at 3.5%, carbon monoxide, argon, helium and neon. The planet has a surface temperature of 735K (462 C or 836.6 F). This temperature is higher than what the Muggles use for sterilization. The surface of Venus could be compared to Muggle Hell. There is a thick layer of sulfur dioxide clouds around the planet. These clouds contain sulfuric acid and they also reflect 90% of sunlight. The surface of Venus is not well lit for this reason. 85 m/s winds at the top of the clouds circle the planets every 4-5 Earth days. The highest point on Venus is Maxwell Montes, which is also the coolest, at 655 K (380 C or 716

Convergent boundaries causes non-volcanic mountains to form on land. This happens when two continental crusts collide into each other. Neither of the plates subduct since both of the plates are equally dense. Instead of subducting, the plates crumple and thicken, creating an uplift to form a large mountain range. Volcanoes are not likely to form under these mountains since a subducting plate is to generate magma. This occurrence will form large mountain ranges such as the Himalaya Mountains in south Asia and the Sierra Nevada in

This composition makes the atmospheric pressure more than 90 times heavier than that of Earth. Closest to the surface of Venus is a thick layer of carbon dioxide. The highly reflective nature of Venus’s clouds is one reason, as well as its close proximity to our own planet, that it is one of the brightest objects in our sky.

The planet Mercury looks a little bit like Earth's moon. Mercury's surface is covered with craters caused by space rock impacts. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and it has a diameter of 4,880 kilometers. Both the moon and Mercury have a rocky surface, and they are both quite small! They pretty much are the same size! But their not, they do have very similar sizes!

On the topic of plate tectonics a convergent boundary is when two or possibly more plates are moving towards each other one going under the other while the other goes over the first. The boundary between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate is a convergent boundary which fuels the formation of the Himalayan mountain range.

One of the largest plates is the South American plate. The border between the South American and African plate is a divergent boundary. A divergent boundary is when plates move away from each other. The tensional forces causes a rift valley or crack in the Earth’s crust. Molten material then fills the rift and cools causing the plates to spread apart and creating new seafloor pushing the two plates apart (Lutgens & Tarbuck, 2014).