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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
A Two-Dimensional, Linear–Elastic Model To Explain Radial Extensional Fractures, Pantheon Fossae, Caloris Basin, Mercury, Brianne Mcdonough
A Two-Dimensional, Linear–Elastic Model To Explain Radial Extensional Fractures, Pantheon Fossae, Caloris Basin, Mercury, Brianne Mcdonough
Undergraduate Review
In this study, two-dimensional linear elasticity theory is used to model the lithospheric stress field that produces radial extensional fractures observed at Pantheon Fossae in the Caloris Basin of Mercury. These fractures were imaged by the MESSENGER mission flyby of Mercury on January 14, 2008 and show radial fractures extending outward from a 40-kilometer impact crater named Apollodorus. Recent studies have proposed several different mechanisms to explain these fractures, including magmatic processes, central basin uplift, and stresses produced by the formation of the impact crater itself.