  In the atomic force microscope, the nanoscale force topography of even
complex surface superstructures is extracted by the changing vibration
frequency of a scanning tip. An alternative dissipation topography with similar
or even better contrast has been demonstrated recently by mapping the
(x,y)-dependent tip damping but the detailed damping mechanism is still
unknown. Here we identify two different tip dissipation mechanisms: local
mechanical softness and hysteresis. Motivated by recent data, we describe both
of them in a onedimensional model of Moire' superstructures of incommensurate
overlayers. Local softness at "soliton" defects yields a dissipation contrast
that can be much larger than the corresponding density or corrugation contrast.
At realistically low vibration frequencies, however, a much stronger and more
effective dissipation is caused by the tip-induced nonlinear jumping of the
soliton, naturally developing bistability and hysteresis. Signatures of this
mechanism are proposed for experimental identification.
