An unprecedented record of Mercury's tectonic history

6,995 mapped lobate scarps: The most comprehensive and detailed tectonic map of Mercury, distinguishing between certain and tentative scarps likely originating from compressive tectonism. Mapping scale 1:1,000,000 at constant vertex spacing of 2 km across the entire surface (except Vastitas Borealis, which was already mapped by Crane & Klimczak, 2019). Ca. 50% and 30% more lobate scarps than the catalogs by Byrne et al. (2014) and Man et al. (2023), respectively.

Geographic parameters: Center line coordinates, geodesic length, end- to endpoint bearing (azimuth), geodesic end- to endpoint distance, lobateness.

Morphometric parameters: Using a novel, global, 222 meters/pixel terrain model (based on Preusker et al., 2017), maximum vertical relief, width at point of max. relief, maximum width, relief/geodesic length, displacement D, D/L, and horizontal shortening were measured and derived for each scarp at unprecedented accuracy.

Assigned label parameters: Is the lobate scarp part of a larger scarp cluster (complex) and what is the cumulative length of scarps in each cluster? Is it concentric to a large ancient impact basin (as mapped by Orgel et al. (2020) and amended by us)? Is the scarp (partially) within an impact crater and which morphologic age does that crater have, both according to the classification used by Banks et al. (2015) as well as the categories established by Kinczyk et al. (2020)? Was the scarp recognized by Byrne et al. (2014)? Does it seamlessly transition into a high-relief (wrinkle) ridge? Does it trace a potential ghostcrater?

Other features: 708 scarp-bound high-relief ridges (wrinkle ridges); 507 tentative high relief ridges.

Future development: MerCatSS will be complemented with additional parameters. Suitable crater floors superposed by a lobate scarp will receive apparent model ages based on crater size-frequency distribution measurements, thereby quantifying maximum scarp ages (similar to Banks et al. (2015) but for many more scarps at much higher accuracy). We are also working on a full-length manuscript; after its publication, MerCatSS will leave its beta phase. Later on, wrinkle ridges and tentative high-relief ridges will receive the same parameters that are already present for lobate scarps.

Sample area