Asymmetric Magnetic Anomalies Over Young Impact Craters on Mercury

V. Galluzzi; J. S. Oliveira; J. Wright; D. A. Rothery; L. L. Hood

doi:10.1029/2020GL091767

Asymmetric Magnetic Anomalies Over Young Impact Craters on Mercury

V. Galluzzi, J. S. Oliveira, J. Wright, D. A. Rothery, L. L. Hood

Lunar and Planetary Lab

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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°, 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.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	e2020GL091767
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	48
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091767
State	Published - Mar 16 2021

Keywords

Geological Maps
Impact Craters
Impact Dynamics
Magnetic Anomalies
Mercury (planet)

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geophysics
Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)

Access to Document

10.1029/2020GL091767

Cite this

@article{ed509d1bcf81439db09a8e83d303fe9a,

title = "Asymmetric Magnetic Anomalies Over Young Impact Craters on Mercury",

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°, 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.",

keywords = "Geological Maps, Impact Craters, Impact Dynamics, Magnetic Anomalies, Mercury (planet)",

author = "V. Galluzzi and Oliveira, {J. S.} and J. Wright and Rothery, {D. A.} and Hood, {L. L.}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors thank two anonymous reviewers for improving the manuscript with constructive comments. 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. We acknowledge the use of public data from the MESSENGER archive by NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.",

year = "2021",

month = mar,

day = "16",

doi = "10.1029/2020GL091767",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "48",

journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",

issn = "0094-8276",

publisher = "American Geophysical Union",

number = "5",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Asymmetric Magnetic Anomalies Over Young Impact Craters on Mercury

AU - Galluzzi, V.

AU - Oliveira, J. S.

AU - Wright, J.

AU - Rothery, D. A.

AU - Hood, L. L.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors thank two anonymous reviewers for improving the manuscript with constructive comments. 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. We acknowledge the use of public data from the MESSENGER archive by NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington. Publisher Copyright: © 2021. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

PY - 2021/3/16

Y1 - 2021/3/16

N2 - 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°, 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.

AB - 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°, 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.

KW - Geological Maps

KW - Impact Craters

KW - Impact Dynamics

KW - Magnetic Anomalies

KW - Mercury (planet)

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102501449&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85102501449&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1029/2020GL091767

DO - 10.1029/2020GL091767

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85102501449

SN - 0094-8276

VL - 48

JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

IS - 5

M1 - e2020GL091767

ER -

Asymmetric Magnetic Anomalies Over Young Impact Craters on Mercury

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this