SEISMIC REFRACTION MEASUREMENTS IN THE BALTIC SEA

Seismic refraction measurements were made in two areas of the Baltic Sea in June 1967. The refraction data were obtained in the course of the transmission measurements program of Operation MILOC BALTIC 67. Three profile pairs were obtained, two in the area south of Oland Island, Sweden, the third to the east, north of the peninsula of Hel, Poland. The water depths vary from 60 to 90 meters between the areas. The receiving positions for the two profiles south of Oland Island are only 46 km apart but the structures differ markedly. The northern section, only 500 m thick, shows a rather thin sedimentary cover above 350 m of 3.7 km/sec material that in turn overlies 5.6 - 5.9 km/sec velocity material. The southern section, almost 2 km thick, has an equivalent amount of low velocity material, and a layer about 1 km thick having velocity 4.8 km/sec that overlies 6.0 km/sec velocity material. The eastern profile shows high velocity material, 5.6 km/sec, at 2.5 km depth. Correlation of the layers determined by seismic refraction with nearby geology suggests that the structural change south of Oland Island may represent the boundary of the Sarmatian Shield in this region.