The morphology of Mercury’s Caloris basin as seen in MESSENGER stereo topographic models

Abstract

A digital terrain model (1000-m effective spatial resolution) of the Caloris basin, the largest well-characterized impact basin on Mercury, was produced from 208 stereo images obtained by the MESSENGER narrow-angle camera. The basin rim is far from uniform and is characterized by rugged terrain or knobby plains, often disrupted by craters and radial troughs. In some sectors, the rim is represented by a single marked elevation step, where height levels drop from the surroundings toward the basin interior by approximately 2 km. Two concentric rings, with radii of 690 km and 850 km, can be discerned in the topography. Several pre-Caloris basins and craters can be identified from the terrain model, suggesting that rugged pre-impact topography may have contributed to the varying characteristics of the Caloris rim. The basin interior is relatively smooth and shallow, comparable to typical lunar mascon mare basins, supporting the idea that Caloris was partially filled with lava after formation. The model displays long-wavelength undulations in topography across the basin interior, but these undulations cannot readily be related to pre-impact topography, volcanic construction, or post-volcanic uplift. Because errors in the long-wavelength topography of the model cannot be excluded, confirmation of these undulations must await data from MESSENGER’s orbital mission phase.