Abstract
Compressional and shear wave velocities and attenuation measurements have been carried out in some of the borehole samples of acidic, basic and intermediate granulites of Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India. The results have been obtained at ambient conditions using ‘time-of-flight’ pulse transmission technique at 1.0 MHz frequency. The results show linear relationships between velocity and density, and velocity and attenuation properties of the rocks. The acidic granulites show lower velocities and higher attenuation than the intermediate and basic granulites. The average values of the Poisson’s ratio of acidic, intermediate and basic granulites have been found to be 0.210, 0.241 and 0.279 respectively. The variations in velocities and attenuation in these low porosity crystalline rocks are found to be strongly influenced by their mineral composition. The laboratory velocity data (extrapolated to high pressure) of the present study and the published field velocity data from deep seismic sounding studies indicate that these granulite facies rocks may belong to mid-crustal depths only.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Balakrishna S, Rao M V M S and Ramana Y V 1976 Integrated studies on elastic properties of ultramafic rocks; Tectonophys. 35 229–250.
Balakrishna S and Subrahmanyam Y 1962 Variation of ultrasonic velocities in charnockites; Curr. Sci. 31 62–63.
Bass J D 1995 Mineral Physics and Crystallography; In: A Handbook of Physical Constants, Ahrens T J (ed.), AGU Reference Shelf 2, Washington, American Geophysical Union, 2 45–63.
Bhaskar Rao Y J, Chetty T R K, Janardhan A S and Gopalan K 1996 Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr ages and P-T history of the Archaean Sitampundi and Bhavani layered meta-anorthosite complexes in Cauvery shear zone, South India: Evidence for Neo-Proterozoic reworking of the Archaean crust; Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 125 237–250.
Birch F 1960 The velocity of compressional waves in rocks to 10 kilobars. Part — I; J. Geophys. Res. 65 1083–1102.
Bohlen S R and Mezger K 1989 Origin of granulite terrains and formation of lowermost continental crust; Science 244 326–329.
Christensen N I 1996 Poisson’s ratio and crustal seismology; J. Geophys. Res. 101 3139–3156.
Christensen N I and Fountain D M 1975 Constitution of lower continental crust based on experimental studies of seismic velocities in granulites; Geol. Soc. American Bull. 86 227–236.
Christensen N I and Mooney W D 1995 Seismic velocity structure and composition of the continental crust: A global view; J. Geophys. Res. 100 9761–9788.
Dawson J B, Carswell D A, Hall J and Wedepohi K H (eds) 1986 The Nature of the Lower Continental Crust; Geol. Soc. London Spl. Publ. 24 297–307.
Gaur V K and Priestley K 1997 Shear wave velocity structure beneath the Archaean granites around Hyderabad inferred from receiver function analysis; Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. (Earth Planet. Sci.) 106 1–8.
Gopalakrishnan K 1996 An overview of Southern Granulite Terrain, India — Constraints in reconstruction of Precambrian assembly of Gondwanaland; Gondwana Nine 2 1003–1026.
Knopoff L 1956 The seismic pulse in materials possessing solid friction, I: Plane waves; Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 46 175–183.
Knopoff L 1964 Q. Rev. Geophys. 2 625–660.
Naqvi S M and Rogers J J 1987 Precambrian geology of India; Oxford Monographs on Geology and Geophysics, No. 6, Oxford University Press, 223p.
Newton R C and Hansen H C 1986 South India — Sri Lanka high grade terrain as a possible deep crust section; Geol. Soc. London Spl. Publ. 24 297–307.
Rai S S, Priestley K, Prakasam S S, Srinagesh D, Gaur V K and Du Z 2003 Crustal shear velocity structure of the south Indian Shield; J. Geophys. Res. 108 2088, doi:10.1029/2002JB001776.
Ramakrishnan M (ed.) 2003 Tectonics of Southern Granulite Terrain, Kuppam-Palani Geotransect; Memoir Geol. Soc. India 50 1–434.
Ramana Y V and Rao M V M S 1974a Compressional velocities in ultramafic rocks of India at pressures to five kilobars; Geophys. J. Roy. Astron. Soc. 38 212–217.
Ramana Y V and Rao M V M S 1974b Q by pulse broadening in rocks under pressure; Phys. Earth and Planet. Inter. 8 337–341.
Rao M V M S, Ramana Y V and Gogte B S 1974 Dependence of compressional velocity on the mineral chemistry of eclogites; Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 23 15–20.
Rao M V M S, Sarma L P and Prasanna Lakshmi K J 2002 Ultrasonic pulse broadening and attenuation in volcanic rock: A case study; Indian J. Pure and Appl. Phys. 40 396–401.
Rao M V M S and Prasanna Lakshmi K J 2003 Shear wave propagation in rocks and other lossy media: An experimental study; Curr. Sci. 85 1221–1225.
Reddy P R and Vijaya Rao V 2000 Structure and tectonics of the Indian peninsular shield — Evidences from seismic velocities; Curr. Sci. 78 899–906.
Santosh M 1988 Fluid inclusion paleopressures and sources of carbonic fluids in the massive charnockites of Kerala, South India; Geol. Soc. India Memoir 11 91–100.
Sidney L and Carel L D 1977 Ultrasonic measurement of some mineral filled plastics; IEEE Transactions on sonics and ultrasonics SU-24 222–225.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rao, M.V.M.S., Prasanna Lakshmi, K.J., Sarma, L.P. et al. Elastic properties of granulite facies rocks of Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India. J Earth Syst Sci 115, 673–683 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-006-0005-z
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-006-0005-z