This process can be divided into at least two actions: Volcanism, which will usually result in volcanoes, calderas, and other similar structures, and Tectonics, which is the process that drives the slow shifting of large land masses around a planet. Planets that have these events currently taking place on and within them are considered to be geologically active.

As of yet, the Earth is the only planet known to definitively have or to ever have had tectonic processes as a significant role in its evolution. However several other bodies in the solar system are known to have experienced volcanism or some equivalent in their histories. Venus and Mars have volcanoes on their surfaces and many on Venus may still be active. Jupiter's moon Io has several active sulphur volcanoes, water ice has been photographed spewing out of Saturn's moon Enceladus, and Triton, a moon of Neptune, contains geysers or cryovolcanos that erupt liquid nitrogen.