Abstract
Several investigators have proposed that compressional wave anisotropy in indurated, deep‐sea carbonates is caused by a preferred orientation of calcite c axes normal to bedding. To test this hypothesis, we have used X ray pole figure goniometry to measure calcite fabrics in three anisotropic, calcareous sediment samples from Deep‐Sea Drilling Project hole 516F, on the Rio Grande Rise. Anisotropy in these samples ranges from 3.4 to 12.0%. The suggested concentration of c axes is present but very weak; concentrations of c axes normal to bedding are in the range 1.1–1.3% per 1% area. We used the Voigt‐Ruess‐Hill averaging scheme to calculate velocities from the X ray fabric data and found that even in nonporous, pure carbonate rocks, having the observed concentrations of c axes, the acoustic anisotropy would be less than 1%. We conclude that preferred orientation of calcite is not a significant contributor to compressional wave anisotropy in deep‐sea sediments.
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