Ghost craters on Mercury

The combination of graben and wrinkle ridges inside ghost craters found on Mercury has not been observed on any of the other terrestrial planets.

[5] Ghost craters can be observed on the surface of the Moon, Mars, Mercury, and may possibly exist on Venus.

On Mercury, ghost craters are most commonly found in the northern hemisphere of the planet in the smooth plains.

[6] The graben are thought to have formed from extensional stresses due to uplift and contraction of the volcanic deposits that filled the crater.

Wrinkle ridges on Mercury are thought to come from material loaded on top of the volcanic plains, in addition to the cooling.

When plains have volcanic material deposited on top, the lithosphere can flex and create more compressional stresses.

[1][3][7] Scientists used cross-cutting relationships in order to determine the sequence of events that formed ghost craters.