Voyager 2 images of Neptune reveal a windy planet characterized by bright clouds of methane ice suspended in an exceptionally clear atmosphere above a lower deck of hydrogen sulfide or ammonia ices. Neptune's atmosphere is dominated by a large anticyclonic storm system that has been named the Great Dark Spot (GDS). About the same size as Earth in extent, the GDS bears both many similarities and some differences to the Great Red Spot of Jupiter. Neptune's zonal wind profile is remarkably similar to that of Uranus. Neptune has three major rings at radii of 42,000, 53,000, and 63,000 kilometers. The outer ring contains three higher density arc-like segments that were apparently responsible for most of the ground-based occultation events observed during the current decade. Like the rings of Uranus, the Neptune rings are composed of very dark material; unlike that of Uranus, the Neptune system is very dusty. Six new regular satellites were found, with dark surfaces and radii ranging from 200 to 25 kilometers. All lie inside the orbit of Triton and the inner four are located within the ring system. Triton is seen to be a differentiated body, with a radius of 1350 kilometers and a density of 2.1 grams per cubic centimeter; it exhibits clear evidence of early episodes of surface melting. A now rigid crust of what is probably water ice is overlain with a brilliant coating of nitrogen frost, slightly darkened and reddened with organic polymer material. Streaks of organic polymer suggest seasonal winds strong enough to move particles of micrometer size or larger, once they become airborne. At least two active plumes were seen, carrying dark material 8 kilometers above the surface before being transported downstream by high level winds. The plumes may be driven by solar heating and the subsequent violent vaporization of subsurface nitrogen.

The large-area coverage at a resolution of 10-20 metres per pixel in colour and three dimensions with the High Resolution Stereo Camera Experiment on the European Space Agency Mars Express Mission has made it possible to study the time-stratigraphic relationships of volcanic and glacial structures in unprecedented detail and give insight into the geological evolution of Mars. Here we show that calderas on five major volcanoes on Mars have undergone repeated activation and resurfacing during the last 20 per cent of martian history, with phases of activity as young as two million years, suggesting that the volcanoes are potentially still active today. Glacial deposits at the base of the Olympus Mons escarpment show evidence for repeated phases of activity as recently as about four million years ago. Morphological evidence is found that snow and ice deposition on the Olympus construct at elevations of more than 7,000 metres led to episodes of glacial activity at this height. Even now, water ice protected by an insulating layer of dust may be present at high altitudes on Olympus Mons.

A region‐by‐region condensed description of almost all of the area that was radar‐photographed by Veneras 15 and 16 is presented. Using some generalizations, the diversity of terrain was reduced to a discrete set from which a geological‐morphological map was constructed. The predominant type of terrain of the studied area is a plain that was tentatively subdivided into five morphological types: ridge‐and‐band, patchy rolling plain, dome‐and‐butte plain, smooth plain, and high smooth plain. Stratigraphically, the ridge‐and‐band plains are the oldest and the smooth plains are the youngest. The stratigraphic position of the other types is yet to be determined. Large sections of the plains show similarities to the mare‐type basaltic plains of the moon, Mercury, and Mars. Other types of terrain are combinations of ridges and grooves in various patterns: linear parallel, orthogonal, diagonal or chevron‐like, and chaotic. In some places the ridge‐and‐groove terrain is Stratigraphically below the plain material, but in other places it appears to be plain material that has been subsequently deformed. Near the eastern and western boundaries of Ishtar Terra large (several hundred kilometers in diameter) ring‐like features can be seen that are named coronae or ovoids. Evidence of tectonic deformation and the presence of flow‐like patterns support their designation as volcano‐tectonic features. Beta Regio seems to be an uplifted plain showing evidence of rifting and volcanism. All types of terrain are sparesely peppered with craters of obvious impact morphology. Their average density gives the plain an age range of 0.5 to 1×109 years. The fact that many impact craters are still in the pristine state indicates a very low rate of surface reworking, at least for the last 0.5 to 1×109 years. No evidence for water‐erosion‐sedimentation processes has been found. The tectonic activity of Venus has no equivalent on the moon, Mercury, or even Mars, and can be compared only with that of the Earth. Intensive horizontal deformation, previously known only on Earth, occurs on Venus, but in a characteristic Venusian style.

Abstract. On the basis of regional and global stratigraphic analyses, we outline the major events in the geologic history of Venus determined by photogeological study of surface features. Because the morphological signatures of terrain emplaced prior to the time of tessera formation are not preserved, the stratigraphic record presented comprises only the last 10-20% of the total history of Venus. The estimated range of the mean crater retention age of the surface (from -200 to 1600 million years) leads us to describe the timing and duration of different events in terms of fractions of the mean surface age T. The beginning of the observed history of Venus was characterized by intensive tectonic deformation of global or semi-global scale which formed the tessera terrain. Termination of the compressional stage is estimated to have occurred at about 1.4T while the tensional stage lasted for another 0.1-0.2T. After tessera formation, several stages of extensive volcanism occurred, burying vast areas of tessera and forming what are now observed as regional plains. The combined duration of the emplacement of these plains is estimated to be about 0.2-0.3T, with an implied average global rate of volcanism of a few cubic kilometers per year. Regional plains-forming matedhals can be subdivided and are separated from each other, and from underlying and overlying units, by unconformities. These unconformities are formed, from oldest to youngest, by tessera-forming deformation, dense fracturing, broad ridging, and, finally, wrinkle ridging. These tectonic episodes are interpreted to be generally globally synchronous and to represent successive episodes characterized by the dominance of compression, then tension, then again compression, and, finally, tension. The last global-scale tectonic episode, extensive wrinkle ridging, happened at about time T, which was very close in time to the emplacement of the most areally abundant plains unit. This marked the transition to the present stage of the history of Venus, which is characterized by a predominance of regional rifting and related volcanism. This stage appears to have lasted from about time T to the present, making it the longest time duration among the stratigraphic units considered, although the resulting tectonic and volcanic features and deposits cover only 10-20% of the surface of Venus. These observations mean that the general intensity of tectonics and the flux of volcanism (a few tenths of a cubic kilometer per year) in this latest period were much lower than those in earlier times. In summary, the morphologically observable part of the history of Venus was characterized by two key characteristics that stand in contrast to the comparable period of Earth history (approximately the Phanerozoic) when global geodynamic processes were dominated by plate tectonics: (1) Venus shows no signature of plate tectonics; instead, its global tectonic environment passed from an initial dominance of compression, through tension, then again compression, and finally tension, with the de...

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