On Sat, 2 Jan 2010 12:00:05 -0800 (PST), "Ken S. Tucker"
wrote:

That's important (IMO) from the standpoint of extra-terrestrial
geologics (I should be corrected on that term) since Venus
would have very slight solar tidal input and has no tectonic
formations, unlike it's it's sister planet Earth.
This causes me to doubt the radioactive theory of mantle
convection within the Earth, and instead place the tectonic
effects on the tidal input of the moon and Sun, where Earth
is concerned.

Well, I think that theory has been solidly demonstrated false, based on
basic energy calculations. Plate tectonics on Earth are largely believed
to be driven in large part by the presence of oceanic crust, which
doesn't exist on Venus. There is evidence that the crust of Venus has
been recently reformed, however, and that could significantly reduce the
amount of heat that can escape from the mantle. Without much heat loss,
you lose convection. This happens when you have radioactive heating in
the core, so the lack of convection really tells us nothing about the
source of internal heating.
_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com