The structurally complex region of Tempe Terra, located in the northeast of the Tharsis Rise on Mars, preserves deformation related to the growth of Tharsis and lies along the trendline formed by the Tharsis Montes volcanoes. We characterise the spatiotemporal tectonic evolution of Tempe Terra based on comprehensive structural mapping. From this mapping, we identified 16 cross-cutting fault sets and placed these in relative time order, based on a hybrid approach using cross-cutting relationships and buffered crater counting. We are thus able to provide a broad framework for understanding the timing of development for the Tharsis Rise and Tharsis Montes axial trend. Our work shows that Tempe Terra has experienced three distinct stages of tectonic activity from the Middle Noachian to the Late Hesperian. Stage 1 involved E--W extension followed by localised NE--SW extension, which produced local zones of N and NW faulting through the centre and west of Tempe Terra in the Noachian. Stage 2 produced intense NE-oriented faulting concentrated along the Tharsis Montes axial trend in the Early Hesperian as a result of a discrete period of NW--SE extension and local volcanism. Stage 3 involved NW--SE extension coinciding with Tharsis volcanic activity, which generated a regional fabric of ENE-trending graben distributed across Tempe Terra from the Early to Late Hesperian. We observe an overall peak in tectonic activity in the Early Hesperian and find that Tharsis-related extensional deformation in the form of NE-oriented radial faulting did not start in Tempe Terra until this time.

The open availability of global scientific databases is key to advancing research of the Earth system and facilitating cross-disciplinary studies. There are numerous datasets available for investigating tectonics, but none that provide an internally consistent representation of the structural framework, crustal architecture, and geodynamics. We present Reclus, a suite of global, integrated databases that fill this gap, thereby providing the community with the key components for investigating the Earth system. Reclus includes databases of the following: (1) structural elements, which define the three-dimensional geometry of the rock volume, including folds and faults; (2) ‘crustal’ facies describing the geometry and composition/rheology of the lithosphere; (3) igneous features; and (4) geodynamics, representing the dominant thermo-mechanical processes acting on the lithosphere. These databases and workflows are applied to East Africa to investigate the geometry and heterogeneity of the margin and its hinterland. This margin is often summarised in the literature as a ‘transform margin,’ represented by a single structural feature, the ‘Davie Fracture Zone’, but it is much more complicated. We show how the pre-existing structure, the superimposition of successive tectonic cycles, and crustal heterogeneity dictate the complexity observed.