Crustal structure variations and transcurrent faulting at the eastern and western margins of the eastern Mediterranean

Crustal structure variations within the crust of the eastern Mediterranean, as well as within the continental crust of the land areas east and west of the basin, have caused segmentation of the collision zones which extend from Sicily through the Calabrian Arc, the Hellenic Arc and the Cyprian Arc to the Taurus chain. On both-sides of the eastern Mediterranean, in southeastern Sicily and in the Levant, similar tectonic features have developed. Hinge faults exist along both continental margins due to the different modes of collision between the land areas and the adjacent oceanic areas. Landward of the margins, two large transcurrent fault systems, the Scicli Fault Zone and the Dead Sea rift, have developed due to the existence of unique crustal units within the continental crust adjacent to the margins on both sides. These units are more buoyant than the adjacent crust and resist underthrusting. The initial faulting along both transcurrent fault systems probably started at the collision zone in the north and propagated to the south where large extensional areas, the Pantelleria rift and the Red Sea, exist.