Journal Article

Mercury's Crustal Porosity as Constrained by the Planet's Bombardment History

Plesa, A. C., Broquet, A., Breuer, D., Hussmann, H., Rolser, F.

2024

Overview

Knowing the structure of the crust is critical to understanding a planet's geologic evolution. Crustal thickness inversions rely on bulk density estimates, which are primarily affected by porosity. Due to the absence of high‐resolution gravity data, Mercury's crustal porosity has remained unknown. Here, we use a model that was calibrated to the Moon to relate Mercury's impact crater population and long‐wavelength crustal porosity in the cratered terrains. Therein, porosity is created by large impacts and then decreased as the surface ages due to pore compaction by smaller impacts and overburden pressure. Our models fit independent gravity‐derived porosity estimates in the northern regions, where data is well resolved. Porosity in the cratered terrains is found to be 9%–18% with an average and standard deviation of 13% ± $\\pm $ 2%, indicating lunar‐like crustal bulk densities of 2,565 ± $\\pm $ 70 kg m−3 ${\\mathrm{m}}^{-3}$ from which updated crustal thickness maps are constructed. Plain Language Summary The crust of a planet is a thermal barrier, which controls how fast heat escapes to space. Depending on its thickness, the crust can strongly insulate the planet's interior preventing efficient cooling. Therefore, knowing the structure of the crust is critical to unraveling the geologic history of planetary bodies. Crustal thickness is typically inverted from gravity and topography data. One critical parameter for these inversions is the bulk density of the crust, which is primarily driven by porosity variations. While high‐resolution gravity field mapping allowed constraining the bulk density and porosity of the lunar crust, crustal porosity on other planetary bodies has remained unknown. In this work, we use a model that was calibrated to the Moon to relate Mercury's impact crater population and long‐wavelength crustal porosity in the cratered terrains. We show that crustal porosity in the cratered terrains ranges from 9% to 18% with an average and standard deviation of 13% ± $\\pm $ 2%, indicating lunar‐like low bulk densities of 2,565 ± $\\pm $ 70 kg m−3 ${\\mathrm{m}}^{-3}$. Key Points Mercury's crustal porosity estimated from the crater population, assuming porosity formed by large impacts and decreased with surface aging Crustal porosity in the cratered terrains ranges from 9% to 18% with an average and standard deviation of 13% ± 2% The low bulk density of Mercury's crust in the cratered terrain, 2,565 ± 70 kg m−3, is similar to that of the lunar highlands

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc,Wiley
• Subject: Bulk density / Craters / crust / Crustal thickness / Estimates / Geological history / Geological mapping / geophysics / Gravitational fields / Gravity / Gravity data / Gravity field / History / impacts / Inversions / Lunar crust / Lunar surface / Lunar topography / Mercury / Mercury (planet) / Moon / Overburden / Planetary evolution / Planetary interiors / Planets / Porosity / Standard deviation / Thickness / Wavelength