Numerous graben features transect the Tempe Terra plateau in the northeastern Tharsis Rise, making it one of the most heavily structured regions of Tharsis. The origin of the complex fault geometries, generated over three distinct stages of tectonic activity, is still poorly understood. This work distinguishes between locally-sourced and regionally-sourced structures within Tempe Terra, to isolate regional deformation patterns related to the general development of the Tharsis Rise from the effects of local mechanisms. Comparison of structural observations to predicted deformation patterns from different sources of graben formation in the Martian crust demonstrates the important role of magmatic activity at a variety of scales in driving tectonism in Tempe Terra. Noachian (Stage 1) faulting was the result of local magmatic underplating and associated heating and uplift, which formed part of an incipient stage of widespread Tharsis volcanism that predated development of the main Tharsis Rise. Early Hesperian (Stage 2) faults reflect the interaction of regional stresses from growth of the Tharsis Rise with magmatic activity highly localised along the Tharsis Montes Axial Trend – a linear volcanotectonic trendline including the alignment of the Tharsis Montes volcanoes. Early–Late Hesperian (Stage 3) faulting resulted from a series of dyke swarms from a Tharsis-centred plume, which propagated in a regional stress field generated by growth of the Tharsis Rise. As only Stage 2 NNE faults and Stage 3 ENE faults are linked to regional, Tharsis-related stresses, other observed Tempe Terra fault trends can be excluded when evaluating models of Tharsis’s tectonic evolution.