Sound Velocity vs Temperature in Water-Saturated Sediments

Sound velocity vs temperature was measured in a continental shelf silt, a calcareous ooze, a deep-sea red clay, a continental slope clay, and a quartz sand using a resonant chamber technique. The temperature effect on these water-saturated sediments was approximately the same as for water alone. This similarity to water behavior would be expected inasmuch as the compressibility of a water-sediment mixture is dominantly due to the relatively large water compressibility. Theoretical velocity-temperature curves were computed from handbook data on density and compressibility of water and mineral constituents as a function of temperature, and these curves fit the experimental data reasonably well.