US researchers believe that the surface of the planet Mercury in the early stages of its history was covered with a graphite layer.
this is the conclusion they came after a thorough analysis of the data received from the spacecraft, “Mercury Messenger”, which turned around that the closest planet to the Sun, and then fell on its surface in 2015.
it has long been noted that the surface of the planet is unusual dark, and now scientists believe that the mystery is solved.
Present at the Mercury graphite may be the remains of its bark initial period of formation of the planet, which subsequently proved to be buried under the volcanic rocks.
this data published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Patrick Peplovski of the applied physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, and his colleagues have analyzed measurements of the darkest regions of Mercury that were made probe “Messenger” shortly before the completion of his work.
They confirmed that the dark material on the surface of Mercury is rich in carbon and that its cluster attached to a large impact craters.
According to scientists, these results indicate that the dark material is ejected from deeper rock layers on impact of large meteorites and asteroids.
Like the moon and the inner planets, Mercury, probably had a surface of the liquid magma in the early stages of its formation.
“When the ocean of magma began to cool and minerals in it to crystallize, those who took a solid form, settled on the bottom, with the exception of the lighter graphite, which floated on the surface of the magma had accumulated in the original crust of Mercury “, – says member of the research team, Rachel Klima
But this initial core in the future was hidden volcanic and other geological processes
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Some of this carbon-rich material could be mixed with rock surface rocks and give the planet its current dark appearance.
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