Reflections from mantle fault zones around the British Isles

Journal Article · Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · Geology; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1990)018<0528:RFMFZA>2.3.CO;2· OSTI ID:6357448

Flack, C A; Klemperer, S L; McGeary, S E; Snyder, D B; Warner, M R ^[1]

---

1. Bullard Laboratories, Cambridge (England)

British Institutions Reflection Profiling Syndicate (BIRPS) deep seismic reflection surveys show that the upper mantle around the British Isles is reflective, exhibiting discrete, isolated reflecting zones within an otherwise seismically transparent mantle. There are 20 known occurrences of reflectors within the upper mantle across the continental shelf of the British Isles, many delimited by intersecting or closely spaced profiles. Most of the mantle reflectors have similar reflection characteristics: they dip 10{degree} to 30 {degree} and are thin ({approximately}0.5 s ({approximately} 2 km)) and discrete. The geologic history of the continental shelf around the British Isles (an area 1000 x 1000 km) is complex, and the tectonic settings of these reflectors very. Each mantel reflector is associated with a major zone of deformation in the crust. This association, the dips of the reflectors, and their high reflectivity all indicate a structural origin. The BIRPS mantle reflectors include probable early Paleozoic thrusts and Mesozoic normal faults. In contrast to BIRPS data, deep reflection profiles in other areas of the world, in a variety of geologic settings, have only rarely imaged reflectors within the upper mantle.

• OSTI ID: 6357448
• Journal Information: Geology; (USA), Vol. 19:6; ISSN 0091-7613
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
EARTH MANTLE
SEISMIC SURVEYS
UNITED KINGDOM
CONTINENTAL CRUST
CONTINENTAL SHELF
DEFORMATION
DEPTH
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOMORPHOLOGY
ORIGIN
REFLECTIVITY
TECTONICS
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
DIMENSIONS
EARTH CRUST
EUROPE
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGY
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SURFACE PROPERTIES
SURVEYS
WESTERN EUROPE
580000* - Geosciences