Elastic wave velocities of Apollo 12 rocks at high pressures

Abstract

New results of P- and S-wave velocity measurements on two Apollo 12 rocks, 12052 and 12065, under pressures up to 10 kbars are presented. These rocks are basalt-like crystalline rocks with a bulk density of about 3.26 g/cm^3 and a mean atomic weight of 24.5. Like the Apollo 11 rocks, the velocities and the wave transmission efficiency are surprisingly low at low pressures despite their relatively tight texture; at pressures below 200 bars, Q is estimated to be less than 100. The velocities increase very rapidly with pressure and approach 7.0 km/sec (P wave) and 3.9 km/sec (S wave) towards 10 kbars. No evidence is found for an increase of Q at 1 MHz with a reduction of the ambient pressure to 3 x 10^(-3) torr.

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