A Global Tectonic Map of Mercury

This dataset is a shapefile containing tectonic structures compiled from the global shortening structure map by Byrne et al. (2014), the map of shortening structures in Borealis Planitia from Crane and Klimczak (2019), structures within large impact structures reported in Byrne et al. (2018), and troughs in ghost craters from Klimczak et al., 2012. This data was compiled in ArcGIS 10.8 and was first reported in Klimczak et al. (2023).

The shapefile contains line features outlining the surface breaks of faults associated with “contractional landforms”, “extensional landforms”, or “troughs”. Traces of anticlinal fold axes, as reported in Crane and Klimczak (2019), are not part of the compilation of line features. Map features may not perfectly align with landforms on the final release of MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) global image mosaics, as some mapping was carried out on earlier mosaic versions. Shortening structures mapped in Borealis Planitia from Byrne et al. (2014) that overlapped with those mapped in Crane and Klimczak 2019 were removed. The details of the mapping and mapping criteria are reported in the individual publications.

References:

Byrne, P. K., Klimczak, C., Şengör, A. M. C., Solomon, S. C., Watters, T. R., and Hauck II, S. A.: Mercury’s global contraction much greater than earlier estimates. Nature Geoscience 7, 301–307, 2014. doi:10.1038/NGEO2097.

Byrne, P. K., Klimczak, C., and Şengör, A. M. C.: The Tectonic Character of Mercury. In: Solomon, S. C., Nittler, L. R., and Anderson, B. J.: Mercury: The View after MESSENGER (Chapter 10), 249–286, 2018, Cambridge Planetary Science.

Crane, K. T., and Klimczak, C.: Tectonic Patterns of Shortening Landforms in Mercury’s Northern Smooth Plains. Icarus 317, 66–80, 2019. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2018.05.034.

Klimczak, C., Watters, T. R., Ernst, C. M., Freed, A. M., Byrne, P. K., Solomon S. C., Blair, D. M., and Head, J. W.: Deformation associated with ghost craters and basins in volcanic smooth plains on Mercury: Strain analysis and implications for plains evolution. Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets) 117, E00L03, 2012. doi:10.1029/2012JE004100.

Klimczak, C., Crane, K. T., and Byrne, P. K.: Revealing multiple global tectonic patterns on Mercury. 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, 2023, #1122, The Woodlands, TX, USA.

Update to V.2: We have added the shapefiles of the binning boundaries around the hot poles (Hot Pole Binning.zip) and around the Caloris basin (Caloris Binning.zip) to this dataset.