Goethe Basin is an impact basin at 81.4° N, 54.3° W on Mercury approximately 317 kilometers in diameter. It is named after German poet

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

Description

Goethe was not listed as an impact basin by Wood and Head because they considered the ''

Mariner 10 ''Mariner 10'' was an American robotic space probe launched by NASA on 3 November 1973, to fly by the planets Mercury and Venus. It was the first spacecraft to perform flybys of multiple planets. ''Mariner 10'' was launched approximatel ...

'' 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 Ejecta (from the Latin: "things thrown out", singular ejectum) are particles ejected from an area. In volcanology, in particular, the term refers to particles including pyroclastic materials (tephra) that came out of a volcanic explosion and magma ...

deposits. These materials are similar to those occurring around the

Caloris Basin Caloris Planitia is a plain within a large impact basin on Mercury, informally named Caloris, about in diameter. It is one of the largest impact basins in the Solar System. "Calor" is Latin for "heat" and the basin is so-named because the Su ...

in the

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 ...

. 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 In geology, a massif ( or ) 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. The term also refers to a ...

s and the radially lineated

facies In geology, a facies ( , ; same pronunciation and spelling in the plural) is a body of rock with specified characteristics, which can be any observable attribute of rocks (such as their overall appearance, composition, or condition of formatio ...

of basin ejecta of the Caloris Group 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 Despréz (located west of Goethe) is more hummocky than that farther south, suggesting that smooth plains material northwest of Despréz 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 crater A palimpsest , in planetary astronomy, is an ancient crater that has been degraded over time. They may also be referred to as "ghost craters", "degraded craters", "buried craters", or "pathological craters". Palimpsests have been identified on M ...

s 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. The craters Angelou, Fuller, and Laxness lie within Goethe. The two prominent ghost craters are unnamed as of July 2020.

References

External links

Map of the region

PIA15536: Highs and Lows of Goethe

PIA14333: Goethe — Then and Now

PIA14821: Smooth Operator

PIA15273: Hooked on Tectonicsanother photo

PIA14812: Radar-bright Craters in Goethe
{{Mercury (planet) Impact craters on Mercury Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Description

See also

References

External links