The large-scale structure of the Earth's crust beneath southern Britain

Abstract
Recently acquired deep seismic reflection profiles recorded to 12 s two-way travel time in southern Britain suggest that the crust beneath this area is commonly divisible, vertically, into three zones.These zones, based upon seismic character, can be related to structural or tectonic units. They comprise an upper zone of cover rocks of various ages, a middle zone of folded and thrust rocks, and a lower zone tentatively identified as metamorphic or crystalline basement. A sketch crustal profile from Dorset to Yorkshire summarizes the data and illustrates the distribution of the zones.