Continental crust under the southern Porcupine Seabight west of Ireland

Two new seismic refraction/wide-angle reflection profiles demonstrate that the crust beneath the southern Porcupine Seabight, out to water depths in excess of 4000 m, is of continental type. They also reveal the rifted margin of the Porcupine basin on its eastern side. Crustal thickness under the Seabight, inclusive of sediments which are up to 6 km thick, decreases from 23 km in the east to about 10 km at a sharp continent-ocean transition in the west.