Credit: Janice Dunlap.

Incoming MESSENGER Fellow Paul Byrne, en route to next week's  42^nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas, paid DTM a visit prior to his official arrival following MESSENGER’s insertion into orbit about Mercury.  Paul received his Ph.D. from the Department of Geology at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, in 2010. His research interests focus on the processes that shape planetary surfaces, particularly volcanism and tectonics.  For his Ph.D., Paul studied flank terraces on large Martian shield volcanoes and how their characteristics support the hypothesis that these volcanoes were modified by lithospheric flexure during their lifetimes. At DTM, Paul will use imaging and topographic data returned by the MESSENGER spacecraft to understand the geological evolution of  this enigmatic planet as revealed by the nature and distribution of Mercury’s tectonic landforms, the spatial and temporal extent of volcanic deposits on the surface, and the extent to which volcanic and deformational  processes have interacted.