Mapping the Moho beneath the Southern Alps continent-continent collision, New Zealand, using wide-angle reflections

Abstract

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. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.