A geological-morpological description of the Ishtar Terra (photomap of the Venusian surface, sheet B-5)

The main part of the Ishtar Terra, located to the east of the Maxwell Montes, is covered with multidirectional areal dislocation systems called parquet. On the basis of their structural patterns, they can be divided as follows: (1) a central stable block; (2) lesser peripheral blocks separated from the central one by faults and grabens; (3) zones of mobilized parquet whereby material in the form of viscous flows moved along the downward gradient, away from the central block; and (4) partially 'parqueted' lava sheets. The Maxwell Montes were formed as a result of a collision between the central parquet block and the Lakshmi Planum.