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Deep seismic soundings in southern Spain

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Summary

In 1974 and 1975 deep seismic sounding experiments were carried out in the area of the Betic Cordillera in southern Spain. A network of crustal seismic profiles was established with shotpoints at sea close to Cádiz, Adra and Cartagena and on land at Alquife near Guadix. The lengths of the profiles range from 50 km near Alquife to 440 km for the main profile between Cádiz and Cartagena parallel to the strike of the Betic Cordillera. The main profile was supplemented by a reversed recording line close to the Mediterranean coast between Adra and Cartagena and another one perpendicular to the main tectonic strike from Adra towards the north. The first interpretation of the data indicates considerable variation in the crustal thickness. A preliminary inversion leads to a three-layered model of the crust. The mean compressional velocity is about 5.1 km/s down to a depth of 4 km. Below this the velocity is 6.13 km/s from 4 to 16 km where it increases to 7.14 km/s. TheP n-velocity is 8.18 km/s. The crust-mantle boundary is reached at a depth of 27 km near Cartagena and lies 32 km deep near Adra, Underneath the gravity minimum of the Betic Cordillera the crust-mantle boundary is found at a depth of about 36 km. Below the Betic zone a pronounced zone of low velocity with 7.7 km/s seems to exist in the depth range from 40 to 60 km.

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Working Group for Deep Seismic Sounding in Spain 1974–1975

Additional information

Contribution No. 4, Grupo de Trabajo de Perfiles Sismicos, Comisión Española del Proyecto Geodinámico, C.S.I.C., Madrid, Spain.

Contribution No. 139, Geophysical Institute, University of Karlsruhe, Hertzstrasse 16, D-75 Karlsruhe 21, Germany.

Contribution No. 217, Institut de Physique du Globe, Université Paris VI, 4 Place Jussieu, F-75230 Paris Cedex 05, France.

Contribution No. 11, Instituto y Observatorio de Marina, San Fernando (Cádiz), Spain.

Contribution No. 163, Institute of Geophysics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH-Hönggerberg, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland.

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Working Group for Deep Seismic Sounding in Spain 1974–1975. Deep seismic soundings in southern Spain. PAGEOPH 115, 721–735 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00876135

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00876135

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