High resolution multibeam bathymetric and seismic data from the area north of the Banggai-Sula Islands, Indonesia, provide a new insight into the geological history of the boundary between the East Sulawesi ophiolite, the Banggai-Sula microcontinent and the Molucca Sea collision zone. Major continuous faults such as the Sula Thrust and the North Sula–Sorong Fault, previously interpreted to bound and pass through the area are not seen. The south-verging Batui Thrust previously interpreted offshore to the east of Poh Head cannot be identified. In the areas where the thrust was interpreted there is a north-vergent thrust and fold zone overlain by almost undeformed sediments. Gently dipping strata of the Banggai-Sula microcontinent margin can be traced northwards beneath younger rocks. In the east, rocks of the Molucca Sea collision complex are deformed by multigenerational folds, thrusts and strike-slip faults. There is a series of small thrusts between the leading edge of the collision complex and the foot of the slope. In the west a zone of transpression close to the East Arm of Sulawesi is the termination of the dextral strike-slip Balantak Fault extending east from Poh Head.

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