Abstract
The absence of plate tectonics and the young surface age (0.3-1 billion years) of Venus have led to diverse geodynamic models for Venus. The energetics of the Venusian interior drives these models; however, the lack of direct constraints on surface heat flow hampers their quantitative assessment. Here we present a global heat flow map for Venus, as well as estimates of the total heat loss, obtained from an inversion of geophysical data, including lithospheric effective elastic thickness, crustal thickness, and radioactive heat production. Heat flow on Venus is lower and less geographically structured than on Earth, with an average of 31 mW m—2, but with highs associated to rifts systems reaching values typical of active terrestrial areas. The obtained total heat loss is 11-17 TW, similar to estimates of the total radioactive heat production. Therefore, at present, Venus proportionally dissipates much less heat than Earth.
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Data availability
The digital models for effective elastic thickness, crustal thickness, and heat flow are freely available from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13138656.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by funding from the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación through the project PID2022-140686NB-I00 (MARVEN). This paper is dedicated to the memory of Blanqui L.R.
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J.R. designed the research, calculated heat production and global heat budget, and wrote the first draft of the main manuscript. P.A., J.F.K., A.J.-D., I.E.-G. and J.R. designed the methodology. P.A. and J.R. conceptualized the model relating heat flow and elastic thickness data. A.J.-D. and J.R.K managed crustal and elastic thickness data and performed the heat flow calculations. J.R., A.J.-D, and I.R. interpreted heat flow results. A.J.-D. and I.E.-G. analyzed temperature profiles and large-scale stability of the crust. J.R. and I.R. managed funding acquisition. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript.
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Ruiz, J., Jiménez-Díaz, A., Egea-González, I. et al. Heat loss and internal dynamics of Venus from lithosphere strength. Commun Earth Environ (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03278-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03278-5
