V-Shaped Wrinkle Ridges

This view of a location within Mercury's northern volcanic plains includes a set of wrinkle ridges that form a "V" shape.

This image was acquired as part of MDIS's high-resolution surface morphology base map. The surface morphology base map covers more than 99% of Mercury's surface with an average resolution of 200 meters/pixel. Images acquired for the surface morphology base map typically are obtained at off-vertical Sun angles (i.e., high incidence angles) and have visible shadows so as to reveal clearly the topographic form of geologic features.

Date acquired: October 14, 2011
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 227092494
Image ID: 884412
Instrument: Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
WAC filter: 7 (748 nanometers)
Center Latitude: 79.09°
Center Longitude: 352.7° E
Resolution: 140 meters/pixel
Scale: The "V" is about 59 km (37 mi.) long
Incidence Angle: 84.1°
Emission Angle: 28.2°
Phase Angle: 112.3°

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