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A hundred mile scarp on MercuryOne of the features that distinguish Mercury from the other planets in our solar system are the enormous scarps, or cliffs, that run for hundreds of miles across its desolate surface. They are believed to have been caused by massive blocks of Mercury's crust being thrust upward, probably while the planet was cooling and shrinking early in its development. The scarp depicted here is about two miles high (twice as high as the walls of Earth's Grand Canyon) and extends for about a hundred miles. |