Shock fronts travel at speeds that exceed the sound speed of the medium through which they are traveling. For metals, the sound speed is typically 1–6 km per second, or in molecular terms ~1–6 nm/ps. What's the shock fronts travel speed of rocks?
Erik Carton
Rocks are Silicate-materials with a density of around 2200 kg/m^3 and a (longitudinal) sound velocity of 5-6 km/s. Their bulk sound velocity (lowest velocity for shock waves) is 4-5 km/s, so there is a regime in which an elastic wave runs ahead of the shock wave (precursor)...
Other than elastic wave do shock waves run faster with increasing intensity (pressure), So, high intensity shock waves are faster even then the long. sound velocity of the material, and only one shock-front occurs.
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