Compressional Wave Speed Dispersion and Attenuation in Carbonate Sediments, Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, HI

In situ compressional wave speed and attenuation measurements between 20 and 100 kHz were made at two carbonate sediment sites in Kaneohe Bay, on the windward side of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Velocities increased with frequency from 1691 to 1708 m/s at a coarse sediment site (HC, porosity= 0.45) and from 1579 to 1585 m/s at a fine-grained sediment site (HF, porosity = 0.56). Effective attenuation increased with frequency from 15 to 75 dB/m at HC and from 22 to 62 dB/m at HF. Values of sound speed at these sites are within the range of those reported in the literature for silicate sands of the same porosity. Attenuation values of these reef-derived carbonate sands are higher than many of those reported in the literature for silicate sands and they appear to be linearly related to frequency (α = 0.65f). Sound-speed and attenuation data were compared to predictions of two sediment geoacoustic models, Biot-Stoll and grain shearing (GS). In both models, two unknown parameters were varied to find best fits at each site to: 1) both attenuation and sound-speed data and 2) sound-speed data only. Both models yielded similar fits, which differ significantly from the measured data.