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17 - Spectral Analyses of Mercury

from Part IV - Applications to Planetary Surfaces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2019

By
Scott L. Murchie ,
Noam R. Izenberg  and
Rachel L. Klima
Edited by
Janice L. Bishop ,
James F. Bell III  and
Jeffrey E. Moersch
Janice L. Bishop
Affiliation:
SETI Institute, California
James F. Bell III
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
Jeffrey E. Moersch
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
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Summary

This chapter reviews key findings from analyses of spectral reflectance measurements of Mercury taken by the MESSENGER mission. Mercury’s crust lacks the 1-µm crystal field absorption due to ferrous iron that is common on other silicate bodies, yet is unusually low in reflectance. The most likely darkening phase is carbon as graphite. Variations in reflectance and color reveal that volcanic plains averaging >5 km in thickness overlie graphite-rich low-reflectance material, which may have originated as a graphite flotation crust from a magma ocean. The one unambiguous absorption due to an oxidized transition metal, an ultraviolet oxygen–metal charge transfer band in bright, pyroclastic deposits, may originate by oxidation of carbon and sulfides, reducing 0.3–1 wt.% ferrous iron in silicates to a metallic state, unsaturating the very strong oxygen–metal charge transfer band.

Keywords

gamma-ray spectroscopyChemical Index of AlterationPrincipal Component AnalysisMixing modelsradarradargramgeochemicalisotopicmineralogicradar reflectanceAPXSregolith
Type
Chapter
Information
Remote Compositional Analysis
Techniques for Understanding Spectroscopy, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry of Planetary Surfaces
 , pp. 351 - 367
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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