Unusual “Pie-Crust” Areas Spotted on Mercury

Mercury surface photos taken by NASA's Messenger reveal peculiar structures similar to what we would call space cakes.

No other such formations have been noticed in any other place of the Solar System, according to scientists.

It is possible for the structures to be a hint for the existence of hidden craters underneath Mercury's superficial crust, Space reports.

“The pattern of winkle ridges and graben resembles the raised edge and cracks in a pie crust,” says Tom Watters, researcher at the center for Earth and Planetary Studies of the National Air Space Museum and head-leader of the study.

Showing both a compression and a distancing of Mercury's surface, the observed phenomenon is a totally unprecedented one.

“It's pretty exciting because it's telling us that there's something really very different going on on Mercury that we have not seen on the moon, Mars or Venus,” explains Tom Watters.