The PICTS project, standing for Probing Into the Crust Through eastern Scotland, is research to uncover the role that the Highland Boundary Fault (HBF) has played in building Scotland using seismology.
Starting in March 2022, we have installed three lines of closely-spaced seismometers for 12 months across the HBF in eastern Scotland. The data collected will help us to determine if it marks a major plate boundary, uncover what role it had in the building of Scotland, and determine if there are any very small earthquakes occurring on this part of the HBF today.
In total there will be 8-10 seismometers deployed by the University of Aberdeen consisting of a mixture of Guralp Certimus and Guralp 6TD instruments. A further 2 seismometers (Guralp 3ESPs) are being operated by BGS Seismology.