BIRPS (British Institutes Reflection Profiling Syndicate) Banda seismic data (1992-1993)

In 1992, BIRPS joined with the Indonesian Marine Geological Institute to record two long multichannel normal-incidence reflection profiles, one of which is DAMAR, the other TIMOR, and one short profile (API) close to the volcano Gunung Api. The survey provides a modern analogue to tectonics hypothesized to have occurred across the Iapetus suture zone of northern England 450-400 Ma. The Banda Arc of Indonesia near the island of Timor is widely recognized as the premier example of the active subduction of continental crust and lithosphere beneath oceanic lithosphere. The crossing of a modern island arc and close passage to active volcanoes was intended to image reflections associated with magma in the crust and uppermost mantle.