This high-resolution image shows a region of the southern rim of the large Caloris basin. In the center is an irregularly shaped depression believed to be a pryoclastic volcanic vent. In this previously posted image, you can see this feature in the upper right as having a reddish color with a dark center. What is this dark, low reflectance material
This high-resolution image shows a region of the southern rim of the large Caloris basin. In the center is an irregularly shaped depression believed to be a pryoclastic volcanic vent. In this previously posted image, you can see this feature in the upper right as having a reddish color with a dark center. What is this dark, low reflectance material (LRM)? That is a question being actively asked by the MESSENGER team. Most pyroclastic vents don’t have this dark material, but other features do show small outcrops of it, such as Berkel and Seuss.
Date acquired: May 05, 2013Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics