Journal
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SOLID EARTH
Volume 126, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
DOI: 10.1029/2020JB020878
Keywords
Elastic anisotropy; Microstructural analysis; Neutron diffraction; Ultrasonic sounding; Westerly granite
Categories
Funding
- Czech Science Foundation [16-03950S, 18-08826S]
- Czech Academy of Sciences [RVO 67985831]
- Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic [VI20152020035]
- JINR theme [04-4-1121-2015/2020]
- NSF [EAR 1343908]
- DOE [DE-FG02-05ER15637]
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The study found significant elastic anisotropy in Westerly granite, mainly due to the formation of microcracks and the crystal orientation of major minerals in the rock. Applying hydrostatic pressure can reduce the anisotropy, but at high pressure, the direction of anisotropy is reversed compared to low pressure.
Westerly granite (WG) has been generally accepted as an isotropic homogeneous rock. Here, we return to WG and observe significant elastic anisotropy using multidirectional ultrasonic sounding on spherical samples at pressures up to 400 MPa. Thermal treatment of WG leads to formation of microcracks that reduce elastic wave velocities and increase its elastic anisotropy. The 3D distribution of P-wave velocities at low pressure is close to orthorhombic symmetry. Application of hydrostatic pressure closes most of thermally induced microcracks and decreases elastic anisotropy of WG, but at high pressure the anisotropy is practically reversed compared to low pressure: maximum P-wave velocity direction at low pressures is near minimum velocity direction at high pressure and vice versa. To understand this effect, microstructures of the rock were investigated by optical and scanning electron microscopy. Preferred orientations of four major rock-forming minerals-quartz, orthoclase, plagioclase, and biotite-were measured by time-of-flight neutron diffraction, which confirms significant crystal alignment. All these data were used to numerically model anisotropic elastic properties of WG. It is shown that WG possesses weak intrinsic elastic anisotropy related mainly to the preferred orientation of feldspars formed during igneous crystallization. Observed microcracks are mostly related to the cleavage planes of feldspars and biotite, and thus also demonstrate preferred orientation. Higher preheating temperatures produce larger quantity of longer microcracks. A numerical model shows that these microcracks act against the weak intrinsic elastic anisotropy of WG, and define the elastic anisotropy at low pressures.
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