RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SEISMIC VELOCITY AND HEAT PRODUCTION: COMPARISON OF TWO SETS OF DATA AND TEST OF VALIDITY

Abstract

An empirical relationship between compressional wave velocity (Vp) and radiogenic heat generation (A) is frequently used to estimate heat production distributions in the continental crust. Two data sets from Rybach and Buntebarth [1] and Kern and Siegesmund [2] have been re-evaluated and made comparable. Bulk density (ϱ) was included as a further parameter to investigate the relationships vp-A,ϱ-vp, andϱ-A. Statistical analysis shows reasonably high and comparable regression coefficients for the first two relationships, but much less agreement for theϱ-A relationship.