Geological Mapping of Mercury's H-11 (Discovery) Quadrangle

A team of European researchers has been making 1:3 million scale geological maps of
Mercury, in preparation for the arrival of the BepiColombo spacecraft in orbit about the
planet in 2025. Mercury is divided into 15 mapping quadrangles. Of these, H-11 (Discovery)
has no complete map, although its tectonic structures have been mapped by Valentina
Galluzzi (INAF, Rome). The student will take the lead in collaboration with Galluzzi to
complete the geological mapping of this quadrangle. The project will use ArcGIS software to
integrate data from NASA's MESSENGER narrow- and wide-angle-camera images with
topographic and spectral data, available from NASA's Planetary Data System. The student
will be primarily responsible for mapping morphostratigraphic contacts and classifying
craters bigger than 20 km by degradation state, and will liaise with a fellow PhD student
who will have started mapping the adjacent south polar region in February 2021. The
finished product will be a 1:3M geological map of the H-11 quadrangle for publication in
Journal of Maps.
In addition, the student will choose a smaller region of the planet for experimental mapping
at a larger scale (to be decided, but probably 1:1M, or 1:500k).
Although maps will be the main specified deliverables at the outset of this study, the
intimate insight gained by close examination of any part of Mercury offers many
opportunities for spin-off science, and we expect the student to define and pursue a topic of
interest. This could, for example, be volcanological, geomorphological, tectonic, related to
space-weathering, or related to volatile processes, according to the student's interests. We
would expect the student to present findings at international meetings and the British
Planetary Science Conference (to be hosted by the OU in January 2022), to become active in
the BepiColombo Young Scientists Study Group (currently meeting remotely), and also to
submit papers for publication in peer-reviewed journals. There will also be opportunities to
inform and influence BepiColombo target selection and prioritisation.
Mapping will follow 'mapping standards' protocols and conventions adopted by the
'Planmap' consortium, which are consistent with US Geological Survey practice. Online
digital publication facilitates the inclusion of multiple layers, so that (for example) this new
generation of maps could have a chronostratigraphic version (surface units divided by age,
such as smooth plains, intercrater plains, and so on) and a more innovative
lithostratigraphic version (for example subdividing plains into spectral types).
The supervisors will train the student in ArcGIS and planetary geological mapping.
Experience of geological mapping of Earth would be an advantage