Accession Number:

ADA326187

Title:

Seismic Structure of the Caspian Basin and Surrounding Region.

Descriptive Note:

Final rept.,

Corporate Author:

SYNAPSE SCIENCE CENTER MOSCOW (RUSSIA)

Personal Author(s):

• Rozhkov, Michail

Report Date:

1996-01-01

Pagination or Media Count:

88.0

Abstract:

The crust and upper mantle structure of the south Caspian Basin and Turkmenian Lowlands is enigmatic. From Soviet deep seismic sounding data collected in the 1960s, the crust appears to consist of two layers a thick sedimentary section 15-25 km with a low P-wave velocity 3.5-4.0 kms overlying a 12-18 km thick basaltic lower crust. It has been suggested that this basaltic lower crust is oceanic-like crust and that the south Caspian Basin represents a section of relic ocean from a Paleozoic-Triassic ocean or a Mesozoic - Paleogene marginal sea. Improved knowledge of the crust and upper mantle velocity structure of the south Caspian Basin is important in a seismic verification context because of the anomalous effect it has on regional seismic waveforms. To investigate the crust and upper mantle structure of the south Caspian Basin, we have installed six three-component seismograph stations within the former Soviet Republics of Turkemenia and Azerbaijan. Our objective is to determine the velocity structure of this region using both body wave receiver function and surface wave modeling techniques. We present receiver function inversion results for four sites and fundamental mode Rayleigh wave observations for two great circle paths across this region.

Descriptors:

• *SURFACE WAVES
• *SEISMIC WAVES
• *STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY
• VELOCITY
• MODELS
• WAVEFORMS
• BASALT
• EARTH CRUST
• RUSSIA
• OCEANS
• RAYLEIGH WAVES
• EARTH MANTLE
• SEISMOLOGICAL STATIONS
• CASPIAN SEA

Subject Categories:

• Geology, Geochemistry and Mineralogy
• Seismology

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE