Upper crustal structure of the Prince Olav Coast, East Antarctica

The P-wave velocity structure of a part of the Prince Olav Coast, East Antarctica was revealed by a seismic refraction experiment conducted by the 21st Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition in July 1980. Ten seismic stations were set along a line with a length of about 10 km at intervals of about 1 km. The station consists of a seismometer and a direct analogue data-recorder with an electric panel-heater in an insulated box. The observed travel times of the first and later arrivals from two explosions at both ends of the line were analyzed. The P-wave velocity of the basement complex is 6.02 km/s which is a typical value in East Antarctica. This basement complex is covered by the ice sheet with the thickness of about 700-1000 m. No layer with a velocity less than 6 km/s is detected between the ice sheet and the basement complex