Lobate Scarp

This image shows a lobate scarp in Mercury's northern hemisphere. Lobate scarps are believed to form when one block of crust thrusts up and over another, in response to the global contraction of Mercury as its core cooled and solidified. This scarp developed as the block of crust on the left of the image moved towards the right. North is to the bottom right of the image.

Date acquired: January 01, 2012
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 233942639
Image ID: 1211937
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Center Latitude: 26.86°
Center Longitude: 85.09° E
Resolution: 54 meters/pixel
Scale: The crater at the left of the image is approximately 20 km (12 miles) in diameter
Incidence Angle: 61.6°
Emission Angle: 54.0°
Phase Angle: 28.1°

Photo credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington