A linear depression between the Ionian Basin and Crete which forms the boundary between the Hellenic Plate and the African Plate. To the east the boundary is a transform fault along the Pliny-Strabo Trench. Several hundred kilometres of oceanic crust are thought to have been subducted under the Hellenic Plate, and the Hellenic Trench may now be the junction between the African continental margin and the Hellenic Plate.