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High-resolution images of Mercury's surface from orbit reveal that many bright deposits within impact craters exhibit fresh-appearing, irregular, shallow, rimless depressions. The depressions, or hollows, range from tens of meters to a few kilometers across, and many have high-reflectance interiors and halos. The host rocks, which are associated with crater central peaks, peak rings, floors, and walls, are interpreted to have been excavated from depth by the crater-forming process. The most likely formation mechanisms for the hollows involve recent loss of volatiles through some combination of sublimation, space weathering, outgassing, or pyroclastic volcanism. These features support the inference that Mercury's interior contains higher abundances of volatile materials than predicted by most scenarios for the formation of the solar system's innermost planet.

MESSENGER observations from Mercury orbit reveal that a large contiguous expanse of smooth plains covers much of Mercury's high northern latitudes and occupies more than 6% of the planet's surface area. These plains are smooth, embay other landforms, are distinct in color, show several flow features, and partially or completely bury impact craters, the sizes of which indicate plains thicknesses of more than 1 kilometer and multiple phases of emplacement. These characteristics, as well as associated features, interpreted to have formed by thermal erosion, indicate emplacement in a flood-basalt style, consistent with x-ray spectrometric data indicating surface compositions intermediate between those of basalts and komatiites. The plains formed after the Caloris impact basin, confirming that volcanism was a globally extensive process in Mercury's post-heavy bombardment era.

Mapping the distribution and extent of major terrain types on a planet's surface helps to constrain the origin and evolution of its crust. Together, MESSENGER and Mariner 10 observations of Mercury now provide a near-global look at the planet, revealing lateral and vertical heterogeneities in the color and thus composition of Mercury's crust. Smooth plains cover approximately 40% of the surface, and evidence for the volcanic origin of large expanses of plains suggests that a substantial portion of the crust originated volcanically. A low-reflectance, relatively blue component affects at least 15% of the surface and is concentrated in crater and basin ejecta. Its spectral characteristics and likely origin at depth are consistent with its apparent excavation from a lower crust or upper mantle enriched in iron- and titanium-bearing oxides.