How can we determine if other planets have plate tectonics?

Now, a UCLA scientist has discovered that the geological phenomenon, which involves the movement of huge crustal plates beneath a planet's ... read more

Indeed, the pattern of faults on Venus suggests that plate-tectonics-like movement struggled to begin but never quite succeeded. The Jovian planets consist mostly of gas, so they cannot possibly have a rigid lithosphere. Curiously, though, some of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn appear to exhibit tectonic features. In fact, the Galileo satellite in 1996 photographed a volcano in the act of erupting on Io, a moon of Jupiter. read more

It gives us a glimpse of how the early Earth may have looked and may help us understand how plate tectonics began on Earth," said An Yin, a UCLA professor of Earth and space sciences and the sole author of the new research. read more

If Mars once had plate tectonics like Earth, the plate would have moved sideways underneath the volcano, making it impossible for it to grow so large. Instead, you'd see a chain of volcanoes like Hawaii. read more

For this reason, asthenosphere can rise at mid-ocean ridges, and can move out of the way of subducting plates. The mantles of Mercury, Mars, the Moon, and Venus apparently cannot flow like that of Earth, so these planets have no active volcanoes, no continental drift, and no sea-floor spreading. read more