Seismic refraction profiles between Cyprus and Israel and their interpretation

Abstract

A long seismic refraction profile was carried out between southern Israel and Cyprus. The seismic energy was generated by 33 sea shots each of 0.8 t explosives and was recorded by land stations in Israel and Cyprus and by ocean bottom seismographs deployed along the profile. The results showed that the continental crust of southern Israel thins towards the Mediterranean underneath a northward thickening sedimentary cover. Cyprus is underlain by a 35 km thick continental crust thinning southwards and extending to Mt Eratosthenes. Between Mt Eratosthenes and the Israel continental shelf the crystalline crust is composed of high velocity (6.5 km s-1) material and is about 8 km thick. It is covered by 12–14 km of sediments and may represent a fossil oceanic crust.