Abstract
In recent years an increasing amount of new scientific data on the structure and nature of the whole continental crust has been acquired from deep seismic profiling. The Bay of Biscay profile was recorded in 1984 at sea along the Aquitaine platform for the French ECORS group in association with Hispanoil. It collected a unique set of two-ship multi-channel seismic data with constant offset and expanded spread profiles in a complex geological area. The data are of very good quality and contain clear Moho and lower crust reflections as seen under most parts of Western Europe where similar experiments have been conducted1–4. This profile provided for the first time the most convincing evidence for an anomalously thin crust below a rifted basin, the Parentis Basin, which is directly connected to the oceanic area of the Bay of Biscay. It gives new constraints for understanding the formation of extensional sedimentary basins.
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Pinet, B., Montadert, L., Curnelle, R. et al. Crustal thinning on the Aquitaine shelf, Bay of Biscay, from deep seismic data. Nature 325, 513–516 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/325513a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/325513a0
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