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Published January 30, 1970 | public
Journal Article

Elastic Wave Velocities of Lunar Samples at High Pressures and Their Geophysical Implications

Abstract

Ultrasonic measurement of P and S velocities of Apollo 11 lunar samples 10020, 10057, and 10065 to 5 kilobars pressure at room temperature shows a pronounced increase of velocity (as much as twofold) for the first 2 kilobars. The travel times predicted from the velocity-depth curve of sample 10057 are consistent with the results of the Apollo 12 seismic experiments. At pressures below 200 bars, the samples are highly attenuating; for both P and S waves, the value of Q is about 10.

Additional Information

© 1970 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 4 January 1970. We thank Ki-iti Horai for his help, Lotfi Mohsen for the porosity measurements, and William Brace for valuable suggestions. We benefitted from discussions with Frank Press, Nafi Tolisoz, and Ralph Wiggins concerning various seismological problems. Gary Latham made available to us some of the results of the Apollo 12 seismic experiments. Supported by NASA contract NAS 9-8102.

Additional details

Created:
August 23, 2023
Modified:
October 19, 2023