Elastic Parameters of West Bohemian Granites under Hydrostatic Pressure

The West Bohemian seismoactive region is situated near the contact of the Moldanu bian, Bohemian and Saxothuringian units in which a large volume is occupied by granitoid massifs. The spatial distribution of P-wave velocities and the rock fabric of five representative samples from these massifs were studied. The P-wave velocities were measured on spherical samples in 132 independent directions under hydrostatic pressure up to 400 MPa, using the pulse-transmission method. The pressure of 400 MPa corresponds to a depth of about 15 km in the area under study. The changes of P-wave velocity were correlated with the preferred orientations of the main rock fabric elements, i.e., rock forming minerals and microcracks. The values of the P-wave velocity from laboratory measurements on granite samples fit the velocity model used by seismologists in the West Bohemian seismoactive region.