Open AccessThickness of the Earth's Crust in Antarctica and the Surrounding Oceans
Author(s) -
Evison F. F.,
Ingham C. E.,
Orr R. H.,
Fort J. H. Le
Publication year - 1960
Publication title -
geophysical journal of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.302
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1365-246X
pISSN - 0016-8009
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1960.tb01704.x
Subject(s) - geology , crust , rayleigh wave , dispersion (optics) , continental crust , geophysics , seismology , rayleigh scattering , love wave , surface wave , wave propagation , longitudinal wave , mechanical wave , telecommunications , physics , quantum mechanics , computer science , optics
Summary Love waves and Rayleigh waves from eight earthquakes recorded at Hallett Station, Scott Base and Mirny have been analysed and the dispersion compared with that predicted by theory for simple model crusts. The average thickness of the crust in eastern Antarctica is found to be about 35 km, as is typical of continents, whereas Marie Byrd Land with an average thickness of about 25 km cannot be regarded as truly continental. Love wave dispersion indicates that the thickness of the solid crust in the oceanic regions surrounding Antarctica varies from about 5 km to 10 km, the smaller values being associated with the deeper basins. It is shown that the determination of oceanic crustal thickness from Rayleigh wave dispersion is in general subject to large uncertainties, nor can one usually rely on values of the thickness of unconsolidated bottom sediments obtained by this means.