Seismicity of the Australian continent

Data on Australian earthquakes up to 1966 are presented. The most active area in the continent is the Adelaide seismic zone. The epicentres follow quite closely the trend of the Flinders and Mt Lofty Ranges, and appear to be associated with the South Australian rift zone. Some seismic zones such as that in southwestern Australia may be associated with structural boundaries at depth in the crust and upper mantle. On the other hand there is little seismicity along some marked faults such as the 1000‐km long Darling Fault in Western Australia. All reliable depth determinations for Australian foci so far place them within the crust, mostly the upper crust. Such shallow crustal continental earthquakes should perhaps be regarded as a special class.