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Caloris
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Mercury: Caloris Basin Mercury: Caloris Basin Mercury: Caloris Mercury: Caloris impact basin
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Mercury: Caloris Basin
Mercury: Caloris Basin The Caloris Basin (in yellow) on Mercury, as seen from the Messenger spacecraft, 2008.

Caloris

impact basin, Mercury
Written by
Clark R. Chapman
Senior Scientist, Department of Space Studies, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado. Coauthor of Cosmic Catastrophes; author of Planets of Rock and Ice.
Clark R. Chapman
Fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

Caloris, prominent multiringed impact basin on Mercury. The ramparts of Caloris are about 1,550 km (960 miles) across. Its interior contains extensively ridged and fractured plains. The largest ridges are a few hundred kilometres long. More than 200 fractures comparable to the ridges in size radiate from Caloris’s centre. Two types of terrain surround Caloris—the rim and the ejecta terrains. The rim is a ring of irregular mountains almost 3 km (2 miles) in height,...

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