Asymmetric magnetic anomalies over young impact craters on Mercury
Journal
Date Issued
2021
Author(s)
Description
The authors acknowledge funding from the Italian Space Agency (ASI) under ASI-INAF agreement 2017-47-H.0. J. S. Oliveira was funded by the ESA Research Fellowship program in Space Science. J. Wright and D. A. Rothery were funded by the PLANMAP project during the write-up of this manuscript, which received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 776276. Work at the University of Arizona was supported by grant 80NSSC17K0215 from the NASA Discovery Data Analysis Program.
Abstract
Mercury's crustal magnetic field map includes anomalies that are related to impact craters. Mercury's surface has a low iron abundance, but it is likely that some impactors brought magnetic carriers able to register the planet's magnetic field that was present during impact. Anomalies associated with the relatively young Rustaveli and Stieglitz craters are asymmetric with respect to the crater center. We analyze the location of the magnetic anomalies and the impact crater morphologies to understand whether there is any correlation. We investigate the geological framework of these two craters to constrain the overall impact dynamics. In both cases, magnetic anomalies correlate well with the location of impact melt and the inferred impact direction. Both impact angles were probably 40-45{degree sign}, with preferential distribution of the melt downrange. Inversion dipoles suggest that the impact melt located downrange encompasses some magnetized material, which is hence likely responsible for the detected magnetic anomalies.
Funding(s)
Volume
48
Issn Identifier
0094-8276
Rights
open.access
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