Transform faults orthogonal to rifts: Insights from fully gravitational physical experiments

► Fully gravitational scaled physical experiments of brittle-viscous models were used. ► An unstretchable thin layer was used to model an elastic core. ► The results indicate that the elastic core and localized heat flow can produce transforms orthogonal to rifts. ► The elastic core concentrates the underlying wide viscous shear in a discrete transform fault. ► The elastic core keeps the orthogonal geometry steady.