WAVE CHARACTERISTICS OF CRUSTAL TECTONICS IN CONTINENTAL MARGINS

Continental margins are the transitional zone between continents and oceans. The tectonic deformation of crust in continental margins is very complex. This paper deals with the complex crust tectonics of continental margins in terms of the basic principle that elastic waves travel through semi-infinlte medium and the wave theory of crust. The continental margin off the North American coasts of the Atlantic used to be the active Pacifictype margin. At present, the crust movement in this margin tends to be stable; therefore it becomes the Atlantic type.