Henan Province has abundant geothermal resources, with the northern and central regions having undergone extensive exploration and large-scale development. However, the southern region of Henan has been subject to limited exploration efforts, resulting in a scarcity of drilling data. Consequently, research on its structural characteristics, stratigraphic distribution, geothermal geological characteristics and resource potential is relatively underdeveloped. This knowledge gap poses challenges in meeting the demands for industrialization and large-scale development. Based on regional geological characteristics and two-dimensional seismic interpretation results, the research on geothermal geological characteristics, resource evaluation and favorable area prediction in Zhumadian area were carried out on the basis of previous studies. The results show that Zhumadian structure is located in five secondary structural units: Wuyang Depression, Zhumadian-Huaibin Depression, Pingyu Uplift and Changshan uplift in the southwest of Zhoukou Depression and Biyang Depression in the east of Nanxiang Basin. In Zhumadian area, the geothermal geological conditions are poor in Zhengyang and Chishan, which are located in the uplift area of Changshan Mountain. There are three sets of stratified heat reservoirs in Neogene, Paleogene sandstone and Cambrian-Ordovician carbonate rocks in this area, and the total static resources are about 115 × 10¹⁵ kJ. It is predicted that Biyang County urban area, Xincai County urban area and the west of Yicheng District are the most favorable areas for geothermal resources development, with moderate depth of heat storage, large water inflow and high temperature.