Overview
- ETH Zurich researchers published a Nature Geoscience paper on Friday, July 24, 2026, presenting the first high-resolution three-dimensional computer simulations of Venusian rift systems.
- The models show broad, elevated rift flanks form during active or very recent rifting and estimate widening rates of about 3 to 10 centimeters per year.
- Modeled rift-flank shapes match structures visible in NASA Magellan radar maps from the 1990s, giving remote evidence that some rifts may be geologically young but requiring new observations to confirm activity.
- The team finds that on Venus these raised flanks subside through crustal relaxation after movement stops, which can erase topography faster than Earth-like erosion and so can hide relatively recent tectonic events.
- Lead author Xi Yang conducted the work as part of his master’s research under Taras Gerya, and the study offers a framework and candidate regions to guide upcoming NASA and ESA missions such as EnVision for targeted tests of tectonic activity.