Mapping the Moho beneath the Southern Alps continent-continent collision, New Zealand, using wide-angle reflections
Article first published online: 3 SEP 2004
Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume 31, Issue 17, September 2004
How to Cite
2004), Mapping the Moho beneath the Southern Alps continent-continent collision, New Zealand, using wide-angle reflections, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L17602, doi:10.1029/2004GL020561., , , and (
- Issue published online: 3 SEP 2004
- Article first published online: 3 SEP 2004
- Manuscript Accepted: 10 AUG 2004
- Manuscript Revised: 20 JUL 2004
- Manuscript Received: 19 MAY 2004
 A wide-angle stack using all onshore-offshore, and onshore seismic data from the SIGHT'96 experiment provides a direct three-dimensional (3-D) image of the Moho below the continental collision zone through the South Island of New Zealand. A bright reflector sequence (up to 4 s thick), the base of which coincides with the PmP modeled Moho, extends throughout most of the lower crust and bends downward asymmetrically beneath the Southern Alps. The crustal root reaches a maximum depth at ∼15 s (45 km), beneath the regional (−80 mGal) Bouguer gravity low and is flanked east and west by shallower Moho where the average crustal thickness is ∼20 km. The 3-D structure of the crustal root in the central South island is moderately well resolved by the SIGHT'96 experiment.