Some Obscurish facts
#380
By analysing crater patterns on Venus, as found by the interplanetary probe Magellen in 1990, scientists have decided that the entire surface of the planet is the same age - about 500 million years old. It seems that, instead of giant crustal plates being pushed around on the surface of the planet, as found on Earth, the crust of Venus is very quiet for long periods of time, after which pressures built up by its mantle (the semi-fluid layer of rock between the crust and the core) completely destroy and re-create the entire surface of the planet all at the same time.
By analysing crater patterns on Venus, as found by the interplanetary probe Magellen in 1990, scientists have decided that the entire surface of the planet is the same age - about 500 million years old. It seems that, instead of giant crustal plates being pushed around on the surface of the planet, as found on Earth, the crust of Venus is very quiet for long periods of time, after which pressures built up by its mantle (the semi-fluid layer of rock between the crust and the core) completely destroy and re-create the entire surface of the planet all at the same time.