Regolith textures on Mercury: Comparison with the Moon

The Mie representation for Mercury’s magnetic field

“…Assuming that the conductivity of Mercury's mantle is negligibly small (like lunar regolith (Zharkova et al 2020)), the planetary contribution to the field outside Mercury is purely poloidal. The currents flowing in the magnetosphere generate poloidal and toroidal magnetic fields that superpose with the curl-free planetary magnetic field.…”

A survey of landforms indicating slope processes in the mid-latitudes of Mercury

“…Lineae -first identified by Malliband et al (2019) these are downslope trending linear features that are expressed as albedo in high-sun images and as relief in low-sun images. "Cross-hatch" also called "Elephant hide" texture (Zharkova et al, 2020) which is also found on the Moon, is a regular surface texture. Landslides -identifiable by the head-scarp and associated deposits as reported in Brunetti et al (2015).…”

Recent tectonism on Mercury revealed by a global population of small grabens

“…However, Mercury has a significantly thicker regolith 32,33 compared to the Moon due to a greater regolith production rate 34 . Mercury also has a higher micrometeoric flux 35,36 hence increased abrasion of surface features by micrometeoric impactors is expected 37 . Craters on Mercury degrade twice as fast as craters of the same size on the Moon based on topographic diffusivity measurements 38 .…”