PUBLICATIONS Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets RESEARCH ARTICLE Duration of activity on lobate-scarp thrust 10.1002/2015JE004828 faults on Mercury Key Points: Maria E. Banks1,2, Zhiyong Xiao3,4,5, Thomas R. Watters1, Robert G. Strom3, Sarah E. Braden6, • MESSSENGER data reveal stratigraphic 7 8,9 9,10 9,11 relations between lobate scarps Clark R. Chapman , Sean C. Solomon , Christian Klimczak , and Paul K. Byrne and craters 1 • Such relations constrain the timing Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of 2 3 and duration of Mercury’s global Columbia, USA, Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona, USA, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, contraction Tucson, Arizona, USA, 4School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei, China, 5Centre for Earth • Global contraction deformed Evolution and Dynamics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, 6School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, ’ Mercury s surface over much of the 7 8 last 3–4 Gyr Tempe, Arizona, USA, Department of Space Studies, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado, USA, Lamont- Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York, USA, 9Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, USA, 10Department of Geology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA, 11Lunar and Planetary Institute, Universities Space Research Association, Houston, Texas, USA Correspondence to: M. E. Banks,
[email protected] Abstract Lobate scarps, landforms interpreted as the surface manifestation of thrust faults, are widely distributed across Mercury and preserve a record of its history of crustal deformation. Their formation is Citation: primarily attributed to the accommodation of horizontal shortening of Mercury’s lithosphere in response to Banks, M.