Goethe Basin
Encyclopedia
Goethe Basin is a 383 km diameter impact basin at 78.5° N, 44.5° W on Mercury
. It is named after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
.
It was not listed as an impact basin by Wood and Head because they considered the Mariner 10
photography too poor to confirm basin structures. However, most workers, beginning with Murray and others, have identified it as a basin. Goethe is bounded on its north and east sides by a gently sloping wall and discontinuous, low, hummocky rim material that may consist of ejecta deposits. These materials are similar to those occurring around the Caloris Basin
in the Tolstoj quadrangle
. On its west side, Goethe is bounded by at least three subparallel ridges or tilted blocks, which are separated by narrow troughs partly filled with smooth plains material. If an inner concentric ring ever existed, it is buried under the smooth plains material that now extends across the basin. A narrow, concentric structural bench, in part resurfaced by smooth plains material, is recognizable at the base of a gently sloping and much degraded basin wall. Although rectilinear mountain massif
s and the radially lineated facies of basin ejecta of the Caloris Croup surround the Caloris Basin, similar units cannot be unambiguously recognized around the Goethe Basin (FDS 164). However, hilly and hummocky remnants resembling basin deposits and ejecta protrude above the gently sloping basin wall. They extend southwest and north of the basin beyond a much subdued, low, barely perceptible rim crest for a distance of one-half to one-third of the basin radius.
Goethe is older than the smooth plains material by which its wall, rim crest, and most of its ejecta were partly buried. The outlines of the rim crests of several adjacent craters are recognizable through the smooth plains material that partly fills the Goethe Basin. These buried craters probably were formed on the basin floor after excavation of the basin and were subsequently flooded to their rims by smooth plains material. The terrain northwest of crater Depréz (FDS 160 and 164) is more hummocky than that farther south, suggesting that smooth plains material northwest of Depréz is so thin that the older and rougher topography of buried intercrater plains material protrudes through it. The density and size of ghost craters within the Goethe Basin are similar to those of the craters superposed over intercrater plains material near the terminator. These ghost craters and the original intercrater plains material they characterize are younger than the Goethe Basin, as they were not obliterated by the impact that formed it. Therefore, Goethe may have impacted onto a surface older than intercrater material and been partly filled by this material at a later date. If so, the Goethe impact basin may be older than some intercrater plains material and large craters nearby. It is also much older than the Caloris Basin.
Mercury (planet)
Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about its axis for every two orbits...
. It is named after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
.
It was not listed as an impact basin by Wood and Head because they considered the Mariner 10
Mariner 10
Mariner 10 was an American robotic space probe launched by NASA on November 3, 1973, to fly by the planets Mercury and Venus. It was launched approximately two years after Mariner 9 and was the last spacecraft in the Mariner program...
photography too poor to confirm basin structures. However, most workers, beginning with Murray and others, have identified it as a basin. Goethe is bounded on its north and east sides by a gently sloping wall and discontinuous, low, hummocky rim material that may consist of ejecta deposits. These materials are similar to those occurring around the Caloris Basin
Caloris Basin
The Caloris Basin, also called Caloris Planitia, is a large impact crater on Mercury about in diameter, one of the largest impact basins in the solar system. Caloris is Latin for heat and the basin is so-named because the Sun is almost directly overhead every second time Mercury passes perihelion...
in the Tolstoj quadrangle
Tolstoj quadrangle
The Tolstoj quadrangle in the equatorial region of Mercury runs from 144 to 216° longitude and -25 to 25° latitude. It was provisionally called "Tir", but renamed after Leo Tolstoy by the International Astronomical Union in 1976. Also called Phaethontias....
. On its west side, Goethe is bounded by at least three subparallel ridges or tilted blocks, which are separated by narrow troughs partly filled with smooth plains material. If an inner concentric ring ever existed, it is buried under the smooth plains material that now extends across the basin. A narrow, concentric structural bench, in part resurfaced by smooth plains material, is recognizable at the base of a gently sloping and much degraded basin wall. Although rectilinear mountain massif
Massif
In geology, a massif is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole...
s and the radially lineated facies of basin ejecta of the Caloris Croup surround the Caloris Basin, similar units cannot be unambiguously recognized around the Goethe Basin (FDS 164). However, hilly and hummocky remnants resembling basin deposits and ejecta protrude above the gently sloping basin wall. They extend southwest and north of the basin beyond a much subdued, low, barely perceptible rim crest for a distance of one-half to one-third of the basin radius.
Goethe is older than the smooth plains material by which its wall, rim crest, and most of its ejecta were partly buried. The outlines of the rim crests of several adjacent craters are recognizable through the smooth plains material that partly fills the Goethe Basin. These buried craters probably were formed on the basin floor after excavation of the basin and were subsequently flooded to their rims by smooth plains material. The terrain northwest of crater Depréz (FDS 160 and 164) is more hummocky than that farther south, suggesting that smooth plains material northwest of Depréz is so thin that the older and rougher topography of buried intercrater plains material protrudes through it. The density and size of ghost craters within the Goethe Basin are similar to those of the craters superposed over intercrater plains material near the terminator. These ghost craters and the original intercrater plains material they characterize are younger than the Goethe Basin, as they were not obliterated by the impact that formed it. Therefore, Goethe may have impacted onto a surface older than intercrater material and been partly filled by this material at a later date. If so, the Goethe impact basin may be older than some intercrater plains material and large craters nearby. It is also much older than the Caloris Basin.