Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1976, Page 1

Seismic Refraction Measurements
around the Faeroe Islands
By P. Hedebol Nielsen.
Abstract.
In 1972 a refraction seismic project NASP took place be-
tween Iceland and Scotland. It gave observations from the
Faeroe Islands where the main results are: The Iceland-Faeroe
Ridge has a crust of Icelandic type whereas the Faeroese shelf
seems underlain by continental crust. The thickness of the ba-
salt lavas of the islands seems to vary around 3 km. On the
shelf the P-wave velocity of the »basement« seems to decrease
from about 6.1 km/s in the northwest to about 5.3 km/s
in the east.
Introduction.
In the summer of 1972 a seismic project, named NASP ( =
North Atlantic Seismic Project), was carried out in the North
Atlantic Ocean from Iceland to Scotland (see fig. 1). The pre-
sent work is mainly based upon NASP-data but only the
Faeroe Islands and their shelf will be treated (other reports
on NASP in this region have been given by Bott et al. 1974,
and Casten and Nielsen 1975).
The North Atlantic Seismic Project was planned and orga-
nized by the Department of Geology at Durham University
under leadership of Prof. M. FI. P. Bott. Institutions from
several countries participated with seismic stations, most of