The scale heights z₀ of the merger-induced thick disk and stellar excess as function of radius in units of disk scale length, r/r_d, for dissipationless minor mergers with six sets of different initial orbital parameters (see also Fig. 2). The shaded regions indicate the scatter in the scale heights. Most of this scatter results from the differences in initial orbital configurations. Also shown are the scale heights of the original stellar disk (dotted line) and after its evolution in isolation for 3 Gyr (dashed line).