Mercury: Great Valley

NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington/DLR/Smithsonian Institution
November 16, 2016
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Black and white image of Mercury's surface
NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington/DLR/Smithsonian Institution

Two larger lobate thrust fault scarps, cliff-like landforms formed when crustal materials are pushed together, break, and are thrust upwards, that bound Mercury’s great valley (white arrows) are shown in this high incidence angle image mosaic.  The northern bounding scarp, named Enterprise Rupes, is the largest fault scarp on Mercury (upward pointing arrows), and Belgica Rupes is the southern bounding scarp (downward pointing arrows). The Enterprise Rupes fault cuts across the rim and floor of the Rembrandt basin (rightmost upward arrow), one of the youngest large impact basins on Mercury.   
 

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington/DLR/Smithsonian Institution