Do Mars and the Moon have continents that move around like the ones on Earth?
I don’t know about the moon (although I do believe the ice moon of (what? Saturn? Jupiter?) has recently been discovered to experience apparent tectonic activity), Mars seems a likely candidate.
Given conditions similar to those found on earth (hot partially molten core, much water present), there’s no reason to think that the geological processes that operate here would not have operated there. Mars has apparently lost much of its internal heat, and the water has departed. But what we know about its surface features seems to indicate that a large amount of water was present at one time. Wind effects can mimic some of water’s erosional effects, and I guess, considering the bright blue sky we saw in the pictures from Mars’ surface in the last year or so that Mars must have some kind of atmosphere (a prerequisite for wind). My guess is yes for tectonic activity having been at one time operative on Mars.
Here’s an article: Plate Tectonics . . . on Mars
Beatle, I think you’re referring to Jupiter’s moon, Europa, which is covered in ice. But I don’t think that tectonic activity is what it’s called.
The big cracks on Europa are due to Jupiter being so damn big, basically. Tidal forces crunch the whole moon up.
I remember seeing a documentary that was telling the story of the first Viking lander pictures coming back from Mars. Apparently all the science-type people got very excited when they saw the blue sky on mars, because it indicated an atmosphere similar to Earth’s. But then it turned out that the colours had been fiddled with (or something along those lines) and the sky on Mars is actually pink during the day. Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that yes, there’d be wind there.
A couple of related questions: From that article that Groundskeeper Willie linked to…
How does this internal energy just “run out”? Where does the energy come from? Does this mean that Mars doesn’t have a molten interior anymore?
Also, I think it was on another documentary that it was pointed out that the hotspots that created Hawaii, Olympus Mons on Mars, and the Maxwell Ranges (I think) on Venus, and the Great Red Spot on Jupiter, are all at almost exactly the same latitute on their respective planets. What’s up with that? It seems interesting, but I can’t think of any geological reason why large hotspots/upwellings would be confined to a certain latitude, so I’m thinking it’s just a coincidence…?
I know the Jovian moon Io has a lot of volcanoes. It may have plate tectonics too.
Here’s the most current ideas on the subject from the experts themselves…
Mercury:
Venus:
Mars:
Asteroids and Small Satellites:
Galilean Satellites:
Io:
Europa:
Satellites of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune: