Tectonophysics, 173 (1990) 387-396 3x7

Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands

Progress in BIRPS deep seismic reflection profiling around

the British Isles

D.H. MATTHEWS and THE BIRPS GROUP (C.A. FLACK, R.W. HOBBS.
S.L. KLEMPERER, D.B. SNYDER, M.R. WARNER and N.J. WHITE)

BIRPS, Cambridge Unioersity, Depariment of Earth Sciences, Madingley Rise, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OE.? lU. K.)

(Received September 6.1988)

Abstract

Matthews, D.H. and the BIRPS Group (Flack, C.A., Hobbs, R.W., Klemperer, S.L., Snyder, D.B., Warner M. <. and
White, N.J.), 1990. Progress in BIRPS deep seismic reflection profiling around the British Isles. In: J.H. Leven,
D.M. Finlayson, C. Wright, J.C. Dooley and B.L.N. Kennett (Editors), Seismic Probing of Continents and their
Margins. Tectonophysics, 173: 387-396.

The results of 4000 km of new BIRPS profiles are briefly outlined as an introduction to other BIRPS papers in this
volume. Highlights of these profiles include the tracing for 900 km of a reflection pattern in the lower crust associated
with the Iapetus suture, and the observation of more than 20 separate reflections from the mantle, while progress in
solving the problem of deep-water multiples has enabled the joining of the continental and oceanic Moho reflections
off SW England. Developments in old interpretational problems are reviewed and the new problem of dating
reflections is mentioned.

Introduction The basement geology of the British Isles is

dominated by the Lower Palaeozoic Caledonian
Between July 1986 (the Second International and Upper Palaeozoic Variscan orogenies. How-
Symposium; Matthews and Smith, 1987) and July ever, the oldest rocks, part of the Grenville and
1988 (the Third International Symposium, re- older Precambrian Shield of Laurasia, are exposed
corded in this volume) the British Institutions in northwest Scotland and the deformed Palaeo-
Reflection Profiling Syndicate has recorded 4000 zoic rocks are buried under post-erogenic Meso-
additional kilometres of profiles recorded to 15 zoic and Tertiary rocks in the southeastern half of
seconds or more. In addition 3000 km of deep England, so that it looks as if the whole region has
profiles previously acquired in industry collabora- been tilted downwards towards the southern North
tions were released, so that we now have 12,000 Sea. Both the Caledonian and Variscan phases of
km of deep data in an area comparable in size oceanic subduction followed by continental colli-
with the Basin and Range province of western sion were followed by extension of the upper
North America (Fig. 1). The purpose of this paper crust, in Devonian and Permo-Triassic time, re-
is to provide an introduction to, and a summary of spectively. Extension was renewed during the
results presented by other BIRPS papers pub- Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous and culminated in
lished in this volume (Flack and Warner, 1990; the opening of the North Atlantic, in anomaly 31
Hardy et al., 1990; Hobbs, 1990; Klemperer et al., time (latest Cretaceous) off southwest Ireland and
1990; Warner, 1990a, b). in anomaly 24 time (early Eocene) off northwest

0040-1951/90/$03.50 0 1990 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.


T @w
WA?_/----
.-
.A
Fig. 1. Location map for 12,000 km of BIRPS deep seismic reflection profiles around the British Isles. Heavy lines show profiles
acquired July 1986 to July 1988. Inset shows position of GRID survey lines in relation to pre-existing lines.
Scotland. There are more than 30 “Mesozoic”, i.e.
post-Carboniferous, basins in and around the
British Isles, ah thoroughly explored by the oil
industry. During the Tertiary there was extensive
Eocene vulcanism in the northwest and quiet ther-
mal subsidence in the major basins. Many of the
southern basins were inverted by SE-NW com-
pression associated with the AIpine erogenic coIli-
sion event during the earliest Tertiary. The maxi-
nmm compressive principal stress is stiI1 directed
SE-NW at the present day.
The whole 12,000 km BIRPS dataset is now
av&IabIe for distribution and comment. The new
surveys are shown in Fig. 1. Recessing wiB shortly
be compIete on all of them. The GEC&BIRPS
NSDP profiles in the North Sea, refeased in
‘,NSDP-85/’ j” \
1985-86, have allowed us to map the pattern of
crustal thinmng in the North Sea and to a&e for
a symmetrical mode of extension for the Viking
Graben and Central Graben (KIemperer, 1988;
Klemperer and White, 1989; White, 1989) The
GRID of lines shot north of ScotIand in Septem-
ber 1986 has estabhshed the 3D shape of reflectors
in the crust and upper mantle (FIaoIc and Warner,
1990). The Synthetic Large Aperture Velocity Ex-
periment (SLAVE) shot in May 1987 runs through
the middle of the GRID survey area and~pravides
data for deep velocity anaIyses (Totter&II et al.,
1989) and for a study of the variation of am-
pCtude with offset that may throw Iight on the
physics of refkotions from the lower crust (Peddy,
1988). Lines north and west of Ireland (WIRE-
PROGRESS IN BIRPS DEEP SEISMIC REFLECTION PROFILING AROUND BRITISH ISLES 389

LINES) acquired in August 1987 provide more ber of kilometres acquired gives &234 per kilo-
information on reflections from the mantle and metre of profile.
the westernmost crossing of the Iapetus suture
(Klemperer, 1989). Shiptime on “Mobil Search”, New reflections
donated with processing costs by Mobil North Sea
Ltd., enabled us to work in the central and south- The Iapetus suture
ern North Sea in June 1987, investigating the
eastward prolongation of the Iapetus suture Six reflection profiles, from the central North
(Klemperer et al., 1990) and crossing the East Sea to the Atlantic shelf west of the Shannon
Anglia to Brabant basement ridge which forms the Estuary, trace a northerly dipping event in the
foreland to the Variscan orogeny (Scott-Robinson lower crust over a length of 900 km (Fig. 2).
and Blundell, 1988, 1989). Extrapolations to the surface conform to the line
The MOBIL survey almost completes the ring of the Iapetus suture traced on geological evi-
of reconnaissance lines around Britain, thus fulfill- dence. The Iapetus suture “separates continental
ing one of the major objectives of BIRPS. Over blocks, formerly on opposite sides of the Proto-
the next four years BIRPS will concentrate on Atlantic or Iapetus ocean, that were joined by
experiments around the UK that are designed to continental collision in the culmination of the
follow up ideas generated by earlier work, and on Caledonian orogeny during the Silurian”
reflection experiments in new areas overseas. The (Klemperer and Matthews, 1987). The time of
first BIRPS project in entirely foreign waters is a culmination has recently been reassessed as early
joint project involving Danish, Finnish, German Devonian, Emsian, ca. 395 Ma (McKerrow, 1988).
and Swedish scientists. The BABEL survey (Baltic The best evidence for the existence of the Iapetus
And Bothnia Exploration of the Lithosphere) to ocean is palaeontological (Wilson 1966; McKer-
be shot in the Baltic Sea area during autumn 1989 row and Cocks, 1976,1986). The suture is nowhere
includes a profile within the southern Baltic Sea exposed in the British Isles, being always covered
across the Tornquist zone to image the transition by younger sedimentary rocks, so it is best sought
across a major lineament between the relatively by seismic reflection profiling.
thin. mobile crust of western Europe and the Reflections from the Iapetus suture were first
thicker, stable platform of Scandinavia. Profiling reported, rather tentatively, by Brewer et al. (1983)
further north in the Gulf of Bothnia will provide who identified it as a north-dipping feature under
data over a Precambrian shield for comparison the Irish Sea (5 in Fig. 2). A single crossing of a
with the “typical BIRP” seismic record (Fig. 5) feature restricted to the lower crust carried little
which can be applied widely within western conviction. However the next crossing, NEC (4 in
Europe, but may not be applicable in this shield Fig. 2) also revealed a north-dipping reflective
area of Europe. In autumn 1988 we shot an ex- structure (Klemperer and Matthews, -1987; Free-
periment, Weardale Integrated S- and P-wave man et al., 1988). There are now four profiles
Analysis (WISPA), using explosives on land, de- crossing the line of the suture in the North Sea
signed to obtain normal-incidence reflections from (Fig. 2). Klemperer et al. (1990) draw attention to
the lower crust in both P- and S-waves, hoping to the remarkable similarity of the three profiles
determine Poisson’s ratio for lower crustal rocks nearest to the coast, which are separated by some
(Ward and Warner, 1989; Warner and Ward, 70 km. Indeed it is well that we see these similari-
1989). ties, for if each of these closely spaced profiles
The whole cost of BIRPS operations, including were unique, quite different to the others, then the
salaries, travel and heating, was E2.7 million from character of the lower-crustal reflectivity would be
March 1981 to April 1987: 72% from government changing on such a local scale that it would be
funding, 4% from the University of Cambridge difficult ever to relate lower-crustal reflectivity to
and 24% from industry. Dividing this by the num- surface geology, and it might therefore be difficult
390
PRCXIRESS IN BIRPS DEEP SEISMIC REFLECIYOK PROFII.INO
NNE
Fig. 3. FK-~gration at 6 km s -’ of a portion of the WIRELINES
in Fig. 2). Note NNE-dipping reflectors believed to represent
they merge with the reflection
to justify the cost of deep seismic reflection profil-
ing.
If we are correct in identifying these reflections
as coming from structures associated with the
Iapetus suture, then we are imaging structures that
originated 395 (or more) million years ago. The
crossing west of Ireland (6 in Fig. 2) also shows
north-dipping reflections in the reflective lower
crust (Fig. 3; Klemperer 1989). Thus we have
demonstrated north-dipping reflections in the re-
flective lower crust which extrapolate up to the
surface along the line along which geological opin-
ion places the Iapetus suture; these reflections
extend over 900 km along strike. Freeman et al.
(1988) identify particular reflection patterns in the
lower crust on the North-East Coast (NEC) pro-
file with particular terranes. Terranes have been
similarly identified on the basis of the character of
deep reflections in Newfoundland (Keen et al.,
1990) and, less convincingly, in Alaska on the
TACT profiles (Fisher et al., 1988). Detailed simi-
larities either of reflective structures or of reflec-
tion patterns cannot be identified along the whole
.AROC’tSiD BRI-I ISH ISLES
survey crossing the Iapetus suture west of the Shannon Estuary (6
the Iapetus suture, running from 3 s ( - 8 km) to 10 s ( - 30 km) where
Moho.
of the 900 km, only the broadly similar, north-di-
pping reflections; although admittedly the data
quality on the NSDP-85 and WINCH profiles is
not as good as on the other profiles. Probably one
should not expect similarity of detai. if several
exotic terranes are juxtapose along the suture
zone (Soper and Hutton, 1984; Soper, 1988).
Mantle reflectors
Recent BIRPS profiling has imaged a number
of reflectors in the mantle adding to those crossed
by the earlier BIRPS surveys. In the shelf seas
around Britain there are now more than 20 well-
attested dipping events that remain beneath the
Moho after 2D ovation (Fig. 4). This does not
include the ones that have been mapped in detail;
from the GRID survey area north of Scotland
(Flack and Warner, 1990), and from the WINCH
and WIRELINES surveys north of Ireland. In
both these areas there are enough crossings of
individual mantle reflectors to be sure of the
orientation of the reflective structures.
 39’

5t3’N
t

Fig. 4. Location of reflectors positioned within the uppermost mantie. Large arrows show true dip dir~t~on-where the iefkctor is
crossed by more than one profile; smaller arrows show apparent dip direction, for mantle reflectors visible on only a single prtifite.
The dashed line in the southern North Sea is an industry profile, NOPEC SNST 83-07.

A common reflection signature within the man-
tle is seen in the North Sea area on surveys SHET,
MOBIL, the NSDP surveys and on other industry
data (dashed profile in Fig. 4). On the eastern
edge of the North Sea numerous reflectors are
seen within the mantle and consistently dip to-
ward the east, whereas on the western margin of
the North Sea, from north of the Shetlands to the
northern part of the English Channel, reflectors
within the mantle that consistently dip towards
the west and southwest are imaged. Profiles across
the eastern edge of the southern North Sea Basin
onto the ~ndon-Brab~t platform show a com-
plex but consistent pattern of lower crustal dif-
fractions, similar to that seen on European pro-
files over the eastern extent of the platform
(Scott-Robinson and BlundeIf 1988, 1989). These
give way to the more characteristic lower erustal
reflectivity toward the southern North Sea ‘Basin.
Reffections within the mantle are seen beneath the
easternmost and bri&rtest portion of diffractive
lower crustal reflections and reflection Moho, dip-
PROGRESS IN BIRPS DEEP SEISMIC REFLECTION PROFILING AROlJND BRITISH ISLES 393

ping southwestward toward the stable platform tive layering, has thus been traced to within 10 km
area. of the reflection from the oceanic Moho, a much
Elsewhere in the world there have been re- more satisfactory result than we expected after the
markably few mantle events reported (Vancouver first interpretations of WAM. A similar result was
Island: Clowes et al., 1987; Pyrenees: ECORS, obtained by LITHOPROBE on the opposed
1988; Pannonian Basin: Posgay et al., 1981). It Atlantic margin off Newfoundland (Keen et al.,
seems most unlikely that there is anything unique 1989). The BIRPS and LITHOPROBE profiles
about the geology of Britain. Perhaps only the across rifted continental margins strikingly con-
most powerful sources are able to obtain such firm the shape of the crust-mantle interface ob-
reflections: on land, dynamite in uninhabited tained by a wholly independent technique,
areas; at sea, large air-gun arrays generating over pendulum gravity measurements made on board
100 bar m peak pressure. Mantle reflections have submarines, nearly thirty years ago (Worzel, 1965).
been interpreted as originating from shear zones The results on noise reported in 1986 have
and from subduction zones (Warner and Mc- resulted in much more frequent recourse to “true
Geary, 1987; Clowes et al., 1987). The former amplitude” sections to identify places where in-
origin is favoured for the mantle reflectors around creased noise drowns out the signal or. equalised
the UK, as their abundance and distribution (Fig. stacks. Common mid-point stacking is remarkably
4) suggests that not all the mantle reflectors can effective against seaborne noise from ships and
arise from subduction zones processes. The mantle swell-breakout and, at least in shallow water, de-
reflectors around the UK are often located in convolution can attenuate multiples sufficiently,
close proximity to large faults in the overlying but back-scattering is a potent source of signal-
crust (Warner and McGeary 1987) further sup- generated noise on the record. The effect of back-
porting the interpretation of these features as faults scattering is included in the apparent Q de-
or shear zones in the mantle. termined by Hobbs (1990) and Scheirer (1988).
We cannot as yet adequately explain why noise
Old technical problems seems to increase as one approaches the open
Atlantic, even in calm weather.
Four problems associated with deep profiling Possession of our own small computer system
were mentioned in a review of BIRPS activities has enabled us to learn that deep data with
presented in 1986: velocities in the deep crust, better-than-average signal/noise can be ade-
deep-water multiples, noise, and migration (Mat- quately migrated by standard techniques. It is
thews and the BIRPS group, 1987; Warner, 1987). imperative to migrate dipping reflections in the
Some progress has been made with all these prob- lower crust and upper mantle before attempting to
lems. A Synthetic Large Aperture Velocity Experi- interpret them, since they can move a long way.
ment (SLAVE) has been shot to address the prob- Less good records can be migrated as line draw-
lem of the uncertainty of stacking velocities at ings (Raynaud, 1988).
depth in the crust, though the results are not yet
available. We are still unable to remove interfering Old interpretation problems
seabed multiples in water depths greater than a
few hundred metres, although Hardy (1990; Hardy Three problems-the physics of deep reflec-
et al., 1989) has devised a technique based on tions, rheology, and detachments-were aired in
normal moveout for labelling them with colour 1986 (Matthews and BIRPS Group, 1987). Some
fringes. Peddy et al. (1989) have used a less au- progress has been made with all of them. The
tomated variant of the technique to trace the physical origin of deep reflections remains the
thinned reflective lower crust through the seabed most fundamental. Warner (1989,199Oa) has made
multiple across the continental slope to the conti- a strong case that intergranular water cannot
nent-ocean boundary on the WAM profile (Fig. account for the reflection co-efficients of 0.1
1). The continental Moho, the base of the reflec- observed for reflectors in the lower crust, nor can
water be retained in uniform rocks. He argues that pitous discovery the ball seems back in the theore-
the best explanation of the sub-horizontal reflec- tician’s court (Kusznir and Matthews, 1988).
tions from the lower crust is basaltic sills intruded Major oil companies working in the North Sea
during extensional epochs. Etheridge argued in are divided 50/50 in their allegiance to the
Canberra that “some fluid ‘layering’, where differ- stretching (pure shear) and the lithospheric
ent layers have different fluid pressure gradients detachment (simple shear) models. White (1989)
and/or fluid distributions, is likely in the lower argued that the two models can only be dis-
parts of the crust” but he did not have the evi- tinguished by their different predictions about
dence to decide whether fluids could account for thermal subsidence. The uniform stretching model
reflectivity. He acknowledged that basaltic sills has crustal thinning, initial subsidence and ther-
are the most popular explanation. Hyndman and mal subsidence all spatially coincident and sym-
Shearer (1989) argue that water can explain the metrical. The simple shear model, after isostatic
reflectivity and conductivity of the lower crust. In compensation and sediment loading, predicts
posters and papers at the 1988 Canberra con- asymmetrical thermal subsidence, increasing from
ference Alan Green and the LITHOPROBE group zero where the detachment reaches the surface to
(1990) made an impressive case from profiles a maximum where the crust is most thinned, but
across the Valhalla gneiss Dome, the Grenville staying near maximum until the basin ends where
Front in Lake Huron and the Kapuskasing struc- the detachment fault cuts the undisturbed con-
ture, for believing that layered reflections “are tinental Moho. White argues from profiles and
most often associated with velocity discontinuities well-logs taken across the northern North Sea that
at highly strained contacts between gneissic rocks the pattern of thermal subsidence there is incon-
of varying lithologies.” sistent with the lithospheric simple-shear model.
Considering rheology, in Europe at least, im- In 1988 a fourth interpretational problem pre-
portant Palaeozoic thrust faults, whether or not sented itself: dating. How should we date reflec-
they have subsequently been reactivated as low tors that are beyond the reach of the drill? Only
angle normal faults, can be traced into the sub- when we have an accepted working hypothesis on
horizontal reflectors of the lower crust, but are the physics of the origin of reflections from crys-
lost there, at the top, within, or occasionally at the talline rocks will we know whether it is right to
base of the layering (Fig. 5). This is interpreted to apply “geological” criteria to reflections, to say,
mean that the lower crust was more ductile than for example. that a horizontal reflection that
the upper crust or the upper mantle at the time the truncates a dipping set of reflectors is necessarily
reflective structures formed. Etheridge, on the younger than they are. For the moment, most
other hand, argues that during extensional under- authors are content to accept that it is so. Such an
plating the upper mantle must have been less argument led Klemperer et al. (1986) to suggest
strong than the lower crust. Failing some serendi- that the Moho was a young (Cenozoic) feature in
Nevada, and similar arguments lead Bois (1990) to
Bkbadrl1999 date the emplacement of the Moho and the
layering of the lower crust as earlier than the
;Ygj=---~ ~ late-Jurassic
“Study
in the North Sea and Bay of B&cay:
of the Celtic Sea and English channel

10
-_---
-22
-
- -
--\
__\-
‘\.
- -_-
basins suggest this emplacement
mian (...) or Triassic-Jurassic.”
to be either Per-
(Bois et al., 1988,
--- M
.\ -- Bois and ECORS Scientific Party, 1990). The ab-
sence of roots to the Caledonides and Variscides
suggests that the reflective Moho in NW Europe
Fig. 5. Cartoon of a line drawing of an imaginary reflection
profile across the edge of a major sedimentary basin and the
reached its present form after the Palaeozoic
underlying crust and upper mantle. Scale is two-way time in (Meissner et al., 1986). However, published in-
seconds. M = Moho. terpretations of the Iapetus suture profiles re-
PROGRESS IN BIRPS DEEP SEISMIC REFLECTION PROFILING AROUND BRITISH ISLES 395

ferred to earlier, imply that the reflective struc- Probing of Continents and their Margins. Tectonophysics,
173: 469-481 (this volume).
tures, and the reflective lower crust, are no younger
Freeman, B., Klemperer, S.L. and Hobbs, R.W., 1988. The
than early Devonian. There is an increasing need
deep structure of northern England and the Iapetus suture
for someone to sit down with the world’s deep zone from BIRPS deep seismic reflection profiles. J. Geol.
reflection data set to see whether consistent solu- Sot. London, 145: 727-740.
tions can be made. Green, A. et al., 1990. Origin of deep crustzl reflections:
seismic profiling across high-grade metamorphic terranes in
Canada. In: J.H. Leven, D.M. Finlayson, C. Wright, J.C.
Acknowledgements
Dooley and B.L.N. Kennett (Editors), Seismic Probing of
Continents and their Margins. Tectonophysics. 17?:
BIRPS is funded by the Natural Environment 627-638 (this volume).
Research council, the oil industry and the Univer- Hardy, R.J.J., Hobbs, R.W. and Warner, M.R.. 1989. Labelling
sity of Cambridge. For the new work mentioned long period multiple reflections. Geophysics, 54(l):
here we are especially indebted to Mobil North 122-126.
Hardy, R.J.J., Warner, M.R. and the BIRPS (;roup., 1990.
Sea Ltd. and to Western Geophysical. University
Imaging the lower crust in deep water (extended abstract).
of Cambridge Department of Earth Sciences Con-
In: J.H. Leven. D.M. Finlayson, C. Wright, J.C. Dooley
tribution No. 1360. and B.L.N. Kennett (Editors), Seismic Prob ng of Conti-
nents and their Margins. Tectonophysics, 173: 141-143
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