Venus Geology, Geochemistry, and Geophysics: Research Results from the Soviet Union

As a result of more than twenty missions to the planet Venus over the past thirty years, Soviet scientists have amassed a huge database of information on our sister planet. This volume presents major research results in geology, geochemistry, and geophysics from the perspective of comparative planetology, comparing primarily Venus and Earth. The most recent Soviet missions, Venera 15 and 16, provided radar images of the northern hemisphere that have enabled Soviet and U.S. scientists to produce a geologic map of Venus and to interpret the evolution of the planet. The section on geology synthesizes the findings from these missions in a form not to be found in individual scientific articles. The detailed discussions of various surface features, the inclusion of radar images and sketched geological maps for many examples, the thorough tabulation of specific features, and the valuable appendices all constitute important source material which would otherwise be difficult to assemble for most western scientists.