Mercury Is Shrinking and Tectonically Active

It’s small, it’s hot, and it’s shrinking. New NASA-funded research suggests that Mercury is contracting even today, joining Earth as a tectonically active planet.

Images obtained by NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft reveal previously undetected small fault scarps—cliff-like landforms that resemble stair steps. These scarps are small enough that scientists believe they must be geologically young, which means Mercury is still contracting.

This discovery challenges the previous belief that Earth is the only tectonically active planet in our solar system.