Kilometer‐scale topographic roughness of Mercury: Correlation with geologic features and units

Abstract

AbstractWe present maps of the topographic roughness of the northern circumpolar area of Mercury at kilometer scales. The maps are derived from range profiles obtained by the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) instrument onboard the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, Geochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission. As measures of roughness, we used the interquartile range of profile curvature at three baselines: 0.7 km, 2.8 km, and 11 km. The maps provide a synoptic overview of variations of typical topographic textures. They show a dichotomy between the smooth northern plains and rougher, more heavily cratered terrains. Analysis of the scale dependence of roughness indicates that the regolith on Mercury is thicker than on the Moon by approximately a factor of three. Roughness contrasts within northern volcanic plains of Mercury indicate a younger unit inside Goethe basin and inside another unnamed stealth basin. These new data permit interplanetary comparisons of topographic roughness.