First Break - Volume 13, Issue 7, 1995

The definition of characteristic geological and tectonic features in the earth's crust and upper mantle, revealing the history of their dynamics, is the major objective of deep marine seismic reflection surveys. Because of the great depth of these investigations, often reaching several tens of kilometres, one of the basic requirements is a high seismic source output level in the low frequency (10-40 Hz) range (see for example Hobbs and Snyder, 1992).

The Moray Firth Basin is located off the north-east coast of Scotland and forms the western arm of the North Sea rift system. The basin is divided into two parts: the Outer Basin east of l°E and the Inner Basin to the west (e.g. Ziegier 1982): The distribution of the Mesozoic sequence within the Inner Moray Firth Basin is well known from seismic reflection data which are capable of imaging well-defined reflectors down to the Permo-Triassic level (Chesher and Bacon 1975).