Curved Lobate Scarp on Crater Floor

A broadly curved lobate scarp (running from left to right in the large crater to the right of center in this image) is restricted to the floor of a crater 85 kilometers in diameter. The rim of this crater and the rims of those north of it have been disrupted by the process which caused the hilly and lineated terrain. This process has not affected the smooth plains on their floors, indicating that the floor materials post date the formation of the craters. In this case, the scarp on the crater floor may be a flow front formed during emplacement of the floor material.

This image (FDS 27379) was acquired during the spacecraft's first encounter with Mercury.

The Mariner 10 mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon.