资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

Partially and completely buried impact craters are widely distributed over the northern smooth plains of Mercury. Using imagery data acquired from the MESSENGER mission, we compiled a database of 257 partially buried and 765 completely buried craters on Mercury. The elevation profiles of fresh craters were constructed, and by inputing these into a topographic degradation model, we estimated the lava flow thicknesses around partially buried craters. Along the edges of the northern smooth plains, lava flow thicknesses were inverted to be 23—536 m with a median of 228 m. Lava flow thicknesses on Mercury are twice that on the Moon, possibly due to a denser crust on Mercury that favours the ascent of magmas or to higher production rates of magmas. The topographic diffusivity used for crater degradation on Mercury is three times that for lunar craters, which is likely a result of a higher cratering rate on Mercury.