Deep structure of the Scottish Caledonides revealed by the MOIST reflection profile

Abstract

The Moine and Outer Isles Seismic Traverse (MOIST) is a deep crustal reflection profile shot at sea off the north coast of Scotland in 1981. Spectacular reflections are observed from the Moho and from thrust zones within the Caledonian fold belt and foreland. Deep reflection profiling of the continental crust of the United States under the direction of the COCORP group, has amply demonstrated the value of this technique when applied to suitable geological problems (see, for example, refs 1,2). A similar group, the British Institutes Reflection Profiling Syndicate (BIRPS), has now been set up in the UK to organize such projects. Funds are provided by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) through the core group based at Cambridge University. However, a preliminary experiment, of which MOIST is the result, was organized through the Institute of Geological Sciences (IGS).