Preserved collisional crustal structure of the southern Urals revealed by vibroseis profiling

The vibroseis reflection profiling component of the URSEIS '95 experiment provides a high-resolution crustal-scale image of the unextended southern Uralide orogen. A marked lateral and vertical variation of reflectivity throughout the entire crust differentiates the former margin of the East European craton to the west from accreted terranes to the east. Between these regions is a less reflective zone corresponding to the Magnitogorsk volcanic are and the crustal root zone. Continuous reflections and reflective domains that correlate at the surface with major tectonic features define a bivergent orogen in which the Paleozoic collisional structure has been largely preserved.