SEISMIC STRUCTURE OF THE OCEAN CONTINENT BOUNDARY FROM A SEISMIC REFLECTION PROFILE IN THE NEWFOUNDLAND BASIN

Detailed wide-angle Ocean Bottom Seismometer and vertical incidence multichannel seismic (MCS) data were collected along three main transects across the Newfoundland Shelf as part of the Study of Continental Rifting and Extension on the Eastern Canadian sHelf (SCREECH). Extending from continental to oceanic crust these lines were acquired to study structures formed during the Mesozoic rifting of the Grand Banks and Iberia margins. Line 306, an auxiliary MCS line parallel to the seaward portion of the southern most transect line 3MCS2, was processed. The processing sequence included CDP sorting, frequency filtering, and NMO velocity modelling prior to stacking and post-stack migration. Line 306 was processed to determine the continuity of two basement highs adjacent to oceanic crust on the seaward end of line 3MCS2. These crustal structures within the complex transition zone between oceanic and continental crust have seismic attributes characteristic of continental crust. It is hypothesised that these structures are continental in origin and drifted into the transition zone in the late stages of rifting.