A first interpretation of crustal structure in the Adelaide Geosyncline in South Australia using quarry blasts

Explosions at two large open cut mines (Leigh Creek and Iron Baron) were used as sources of seismic energy to record along two linear profiles, parallel and approximately transverse to the axis of the Adelaide geosyncline in South Australia. Records at approximately 120 sites were obtained out to distances of the order of 350 km with Kinemetrics PS‐1A portable seismographs, using smoked paper and a recording speed of 4 mm/s. Times of blasting were determined from records at some of the permanent stations of the University of Adelaide seismograph network. Station spacing was normally 5 km, but at large distances from the source this increased to the order of 10 km.

The simplest model of the crust consistent with the observed travel times comprises two essentially homogeneous layers overlying the mantle. The average P wave velocities in the upper and lower crustal layers are 5.94 km/s and 6.46 km/s, with the boundary between the layers at approximately 18 km and possibly 8 km below Eyre Peninsula. Although such a division has been found in other parts of Australia, none of the earlier studies in S.A. found evidence for such a discontinuity or velocity gradient. The P wave velocity in the upper mantle is 7.97 km/s and the mean thickness of the crust is 39 km. Both the intermediate and Moho “discontinuities” may vary by up to 5 km from their mean depths. Shear waves have velocities of 3.43 and 4.45 km/s in the upper crustal layer and the upper mantle, respectively.