Mapping Tectonic Lineaments in Venus

When we look at Earth’s surface, we can identify a wide range of crustal deformation patterns associated with the planet’s underlying geodynamic processes. This approach can be adapted to the surfaces of other planetary bodies, enabling the understanding of the origin and evolution of the structures they host.

Venus is considered Earth’s sister planet due to their similarities in size and composition; however, they exhibit different tectonic regimes, resulting in distinct surface features. The deformation of the surface of Venus is characterized by numerous patterns of lineaments that are notably distinct from those on Earth, but with some similarities that allow for establishing parallelisms.

In this work, we map tectonic lineaments across key areas of Venus's surface using Magellan Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery in ArcGIS Pro. We selected a few areas that host fault systems with some degree of analogy to those found on Earth. These faults are divided into different families based on their orientation, spatial distribution and cross-cutting relationships. The objective is to establish a relative chronology of tectonic events and to gain insights into the stress regimes responsible for their formation.

The analysis of these deformation patterns aims to better understand the geodynamic processes that shape the Venusian surface and to explain why and how these structures differ from those observed on Earth. Such results will be important when preparing for future space missions to Venus.

This work is supported by FCT, I.P./MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC): LA/P/0068/2020 - https://doi.org/10.54499/LA/P/0068/2020 , UID/50019/2025,  https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/PRR/50019/2025, UID/PRR2/50019/2025