LITHOSPHERE-SCALE SEISMIC IMAGE OF THE SOUTHERN URALS FROM EXPLOSION-SOURCE REFLECTION PROFILING

Explosive-source deep seismic reflection data from the southern Ural M ountains of central Russia provided a lithosphere-scale image of the c entral Eurasian plate that reveals deep reflections (35 to 45 seconds in travel time; similar to 130 to 170 kilometers deep) from the mantle . The data display laterally variable reflectivity at the base of the crust that deepens beneath the central part of the profile, documentin g a crustal thickness of similar to 55 to 60 kilometers beneath the ax is of the orogen. These data provide an image of the structure of the crust and underlying mantle lithosphere in a preserved collisional oro gen, perhaps to the base of the lithosphere.