Origin and role of major strike‐slip transfers during plate collision in the central Mediterranean

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Abstract
Variations in the crustal structure along the northern African plate margin have caused different modes of collision with Eurasia. Lateral density variations along the central Mediterranean collision zone are expressed in a change of the angle of the downbending African Plate and lead to the formation of strike‐slip transfers in these transition zones that are roughly perpendicular to the trend of the collisional zone. In some cases these transfer zones are developed into hinge faults, while in others they can be developed into transform faults. This process governs the segmentation of the collision zone in the central Mediterranean region south of the Maghrebian thrust belt in Tunisia and Sicily through the Calabrian Arc to the northeastern Hellenic Arc, extending further to the Cyprian Arc and to the Taurus‐Zagros chain.