Resolution Rupes is an escarpment

Escarpment

An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that occurs from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations.-Description and variants:...

 on Mercury

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...

 approximately 190 kilometers long located in the southern hemisphere of Mercury. Discovered by 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...

 spacecraft in 1974, it was formed by a thrust fault

Thrust fault

A thrust fault is a type of fault, or break in the Earth's crust across which there has been relative movement, in which rocks of lower stratigraphic position are pushed up and over higher strata. They are often recognized because they place older rocks above younger...

, thought to have occurred due to the shrinkage of the planet's core

Planetary core

The planetary core consists of the innermost layer of a planet.The core may be composed of solid and liquid layers, while the cores of Mars and Venus are thought to be completely solid as they lack an internally generated magnetic field. In our solar system, core size can range from about 20% to...

 as it cooled over time.

Resolution Rupes has an arcuate shape with the scarp face on convex side of the arc. It has a relief of about 0.9 km and is situated between Adventure Rupes

Adventure Rupes

Adventure Rupes is an escarpment on Mercury approximately 270 kilometers long located in the southern hemisphere of Mercury. Discovered by the Mariner 10 spacecraft in 1974, it was formed by a thrust fault, thought to have occurred due to the shrinkage of the planet's core as it cooled over...

 and Discovery Rupes

Discovery Rupes

Discovery Rupes is an escarpment on Mercury approximately long and 2 kilometers high, located at latitude 56.3 S and longitude 38.3 W. It was formed by a thrust fault, thought to have occurred due to the shrinkage of the planet's core as it cooled over time. The scarp cuts through Rameau crater....

. These three scarps lie on a large arc extending for more than 1000 km. Resolution Rupes is separated from Adventure Rupes by a high relief ridge informally called Rabelais Dorsum, which crosscuts the scarps. This means that Resolution Rupes and Adventure Rupes may be parts of one large structure similar in length to Discovery Rupes.

The scarp is named after HMS Resolution, one of James Cook

James Cook

Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...

's ships on second voyage to the Pacific, 1772–75.