Empirical Relations between Elastic Wavespeeds and Density in the Earth's Crust
2005/12/01 by T. M. Brocher, Thomas M. Brocher · 1,861 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Mathematics · #Crust #Earth (classical element) #Geology #Geophysics #Mathematical physics #Mathematics #Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques #Seismic Waves and Analysis #Seismology #earthquake and tectonic studies
paper · doi:10.1785/0120050077
published in Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 95(6), 2081-2092 (Seismological Society of America)
openalex publication_date 2005/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Abstract
A compilation of compressional-wave ( V p) and shear-wave ( V s) velocities and densities for a wide variety of common lithologies is used to define new nonlinear, multivalued, and quantitative relations between these properties for the Earth's crust. Wireline borehole logs, vertical seismic profiles, laboratory measurements, and seismic tomography models provide a diverse dataset for deriving empirical relations between crustal V p and V s. The proposed V s as a function of V p relations fit V s and V p borehole logs in Quaternary alluvium and Salinian granites as well as laboratory measurements over a 7-km/sec-wide range in V p. The relations derived here are very close to those used to develop a regional 3D velocity model for southern California, based on pre-1970 data, and thus provide support for that model. These data, and these relations, show a rapid increase in V s as V p increases to 3.5 km/sec leading to higher shear-wave velocities in young sedimentary deposits than commonly assumed. These relations, appropriate for active continental margins where earthquakes are prone to occur, suggests that amplification of strong ground motions by shallow geologic deposits may not be as large as predicted by some earlier models.
Citations
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