Did Plate Tectonics Operate on Venus?

Determine whether plate tectonics ever operated on Venus as the mechanism enabling atmospheric carbon drawdown through the carbonate–silicate cycle.

Background

On Earth, the carbonate–silicate cycle draws down atmospheric CO2 and stabilizes long-term climate, with plate tectonics being the primary mechanism for this drawdown. Whether Venus had plate tectonics has direct implications for its past climate regulation and potential habitability.

Although evidence exists for spatially limited subduction on Venus, it remains uncertain if global or long-lived plate tectonics operated, which would have strongly influenced Venus’s climate trajectory.