Venus may be a "soft" planet that regenerates its surface thanks to volcanoes.

Venus has no tectonic plates, so the question of what processes form its surface has long occupied planetary scientists. A new study has shown that the so-called "crowns" are located where the planet's lithosphere is thinnest and most active. In this way, Venus opens a window into the past, helping to better understand what the Earth might have looked like more than 2.5 billion years ago. According to forecasts, the planet will form tectonic plates only in the distant future.