Abstract
Deep seismic-reflection profiling is successfully being used worldwide to study the structure of the continental crust1–7. The MOIST8 profile recorded by BIRPS (British Institutions Reflection Profiling Syndicate) was the first to show that the structure of the upper mantle could also be imaged given a powerful source and long recording times. BIRPS has recently acquired an ultra-deep seismic reflection line, DRUM (Deep Reflections from the Upper Mantle). The DRUM line was designed specifically to investigate the reflectivity of the lower continental lithosphere and was therefore recorded to a two-way-time (TWT) of 30 s, giving a depth of penetration into the lithosphere of ∼ 110 km. This profile has now revealed strong reflections which are unequivocally from the lower lithosphere, well below the base of the crust, and which are, as far as we are aware, the deepest and most continuous structures imaged in the upper mantle by multi-channel seismic-reflection profiling.
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McGeary, S., Warner, M. Seismic profiling the continental lithosphere. Nature 317, 795–797 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/317795a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/317795a0
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