Flip convergence across the Phoenician basin through nucleation of subduction

• Tectonic convergence across the Mediterranean induces fragmentation into micro-plates.
• Reversal of subduction polarity across the Phoenician basin.
• Eastern Cyprus Arc subduction cessation shifts to North Levant margin re-activation.
• Rare modern example for subduction nucleation across the northern Levant margin.

Modern examples of active subduction nucleation are scarce. Hence, knowledge is derived from reconstructions of old subduction zones and numerical modeling. Here we present a rare analog of induced subduction nucleation occurring today along the northeastern Mediterranean continental margin. Geological evidence gathered here suggests that plate convergence between Africa–Sinai–Arabia and Eurasia–Anatolia since the Pliocene led to fragmentation of the northern Sinai plate into the Phoenician and Northern Levant micro-plates. Currently convergence is in the process of shifting from subduction cessation beneath the eastern Cyprus Arc to reactivation of the northern Levant margin. This shift induces the nucleation of an embryonic subduction zone, through polarity reversal. It re-defines the front of plate convergence.

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