Possible - but what I was thinking about
Was an Earth like (water and atmosphere) planet in orbit around a primary star, but a planet which had a large planet in the next orbit out from the star or in from the star -
The question is, could gravitational forces sufficient to set up tectonics exist in this situation, or would the larger planet simply quickly absorb the earth-like one?
Another issue that has to be looked at besides tectonics when estimating the possibility of ETI is accretion in planetary systems: ie, impact events. Despite the frequent protests of a few here ("Partial crater counts from the Moon are sufficient, etc.") , we don't have enough information on what is occuring within our own solar system to model it with any degree of certainty -
EP