Volcanic activity and lava flows on the planet Hema

In the pictures of the Messenger spacecraft, you can see a wide retreat of volcanic plains surrounding the North Pole region

In the pictures of the Messenger spacecraft, you can see a wide retreat of volcanic plains surrounding the North Pole region. These plains cover more than 6% of the surface of the planet Mercury. The thickness of the volcanic layer is 2 km and in various places you can see the upper lips of craters that were almost completely covered by the lava flows. Large amounts of these sediments are similar to the Columbia River Basalt Group in the North of the USA. The age of this region in the USA is less than 10 million years and in a certain place its area is 150,000 km.

According to the Messenger's photographs, it is estimated that the volcanic material burst out of openings in the ground that appear in a linear fashion, one after the other, and covered the places near the openings. Among the vents there are some that reach up to 25 km in length and are the source of some of these large amounts of lava that burst out onto the surface, destroying the ground it covered, digging valleys in it and creating formations that resemble teardrops. What is particularly surprising is that these geological formations are the product of various types of chemical compounds similar to terrestrial rocks called komatite (microcrystalline volcanic rocks) (1,2). The volcanic rocks cover a large part of the ground of the planet Hema, even in geologically complex areas and in places where impact craters covered the original formations of the surface (3). The extensive geographical distribution of flood plains in the North Pole shows that volcanic activity shaped a large part of the crust and it continued throughout the geological history of the planet Hema, despite contractional stress to inhibit the eruption of volcanic material to the surface (4).

Examples of volcanic activity.

1. To the east of the Hokusai crater you can see lava flows reminiscent of similar formations on Earth (5).

2. On the inner margin of the Kaloris basin, a depression is found which is probably a volcanic source that exploded similar to other volcanic vents on the planet Hema (6).

Sources

1. "MESSENGER reveals flood lavas hollows and unprecedented surface details of Mercury" 3.9.2011
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/ MESSENGER_ Reveals_ Flood_ Lavas _Hollows _And_ Unpercedented _ Surface_ Details_ Of_ Mercury _999.html

2. Shlomo Shuval-Northern Earth, second edition, Open University Press, 2011, 746 p.

3. "MESSENGER team presented new Mercury findings at planetary conference" 6.10.2011
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/ MESSENGER_ Team_ Presented_ New _Mercury _Finding_ At_ Planetary _Conference_999.html

4. "Mercury's Messenger reveals surprise" 20.6.2011
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my-weblog/2011/06/- mercury’s- messenger- reveals- surprise.html
5. PIA14193: Two kinds of small craters.
http//:photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/ PIA14193

6. PIA15245: Time to vent.
http//:photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/ PIA15245