The Kefalonia Transform Zone (offshore Western Greece) with special emphasis to its prolongation towards the Ionian Abyssal Plain

Information concerning two seismic lines, the first located northwest of the Lefkada Island and the second from the deep Ionian basin to the gulf of Patras, is used to trace the Kefalonia Transform Zone (KTZ) and to explore its relation with the sedimentary sequences and the deeper geologic structures in the study area. In addition, sea bottom topography and fault plane solutions are combined in order to explore the prolongation of the KTZ into the Ionian Abyssal Plain (IoAP) and to describe its properties. The boundary between the subduction of the eastern Mediterranean oceanic crust under the overriding continental crust and the KTZ is well constrained by the seismic data in association with seismicity and regional stress field. The southern prolongation of the KTZ is located in the IoAP towards the direction between Kefalonia and Zakynthos Islands at depth greater than 15 km. The southern part of the KTZ exhibits a strike-slip motion with a thrust component according to fault plane solutions of moderate and strong earthquakes. The seismic section mostly confirms the existence of the thrust component and gives information about the tectonic status east and west of the KTZ.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]