Many Medioeval villages of Monferrato area was build with Pietra da Cantoni, a Miocene carbonatic sandstone: today we don't ave anymore quarryes supplying material despite certain demand arising from buildings and renovation projects.... more
Many Medioeval villages of Monferrato area was build with Pietra da Cantoni, a Miocene carbonatic sandstone: today we don't ave anymore quarryes supplying material despite certain demand arising from buildings and renovation projects. This research aims to ensure procurement of material to be used in the renovation of stone buildings exclusively in the local area.
Between 2010 and 2015, the Royal Palace of Palermo was the subject of several scientific investigations, with diagnostic, archaeometric and archaeological purposes. Among the different outcomes, these surveys allowed us to acquire new... more
Between 2010 and 2015, the Royal Palace of Palermo was the subject of several scientific investigations, with diagnostic, archaeometric and archaeological purposes. Among the different outcomes, these surveys allowed us to acquire new data on stratigraphy of the subsoil in this area. In particular, recent observations and geological surveys allowed us to identify a heretofore unknown litho-stratigraphic unit attributable to the Middle Pleistocene of marine polymictic para-conglomerates and well-cemented calcarenites, which indeed constitutes the geological substratum of rock (paleo-soil) on which the Royal Palace is founded. The same material was quarried in situ and employed in the Hellenistic period (3 rd century BC) for the strengthening of the defensive walls of the Punic era (5 th century BC).
In syngenetic karst speleogenesis and lithogenesis are concurrent: caves and karst features are forming at the same time as the loose sediment is being cemented into a soft, porous rock. “Eogenetic karst” and “soft-rock karst” are closely... more
In syngenetic karst speleogenesis and lithogenesis are concurrent: caves and karst features are forming at the same time as the loose sediment is being cemented into a soft, porous rock. “Eogenetic karst” and “soft-rock karst” are closely related terms for features developed in soft, poorly-consolidated limestones.
The distinctive features of syngenetic karst are: shallow horizontal cave systems; a general lack of directed conduits (low irregular chambers occur instead); clustering of caves at the margins of topographic highs or along the coast; paleosoil horizons; vertical solution pipes which locally form dense fields; extensive breakdown and subsidence to form collapse-dominated cave systems; a variety of surface and subsurface breccias and locally large collapse dolines and cenotes; and limited surface sculpturing (karren).
These features are best developed in host sediments that have well developed primary matrix permeability and limited secondary cementation (and hence limited mechanical strength), for example dune calcarenites. Certain hydrological environments also assist: invading swamp waters or mixing at a well-developed watertable; or, near the coast, mixing at the top and bottom of a freshwater lens floating on salt water. Where these factors are absent the karst forms tend to be more akin to those of classical hard-rock or telogenetic karst.
Pietra da Cantoni is an ancient masonry stone quarried in Monferrato Casalese area since Middle age or maybe Romanic age. This study has been carried out to discover the quarrying potential to reopen a quarry to restore ancient monuments... more
Pietra da Cantoni is an ancient masonry stone quarried in Monferrato Casalese area since Middle age or maybe Romanic age. This study has been carried out to discover the quarrying potential to reopen a quarry to restore ancient monuments and buildings.
La muralla es la única estructura urbana que permanece a lo largo de la historia de la ciudad. La sucesión de épocas implica numerosas actuaciones para mantener dicha estructura, tales como reparaciones, recrecidos o lienzos ex NOVO. De... more
La muralla es la única estructura urbana que permanece a lo largo de la historia de la ciudad. La sucesión de épocas implica numerosas actuaciones para mantener dicha estructura, tales como reparaciones, recrecidos o lienzos ex NOVO. De acuerdo con las investigaciones arqueológicas recientes sobre la cerca antigua de Córdoba, se ha puesto de manifiesto una serie de actuaciones que dejarían entrever una muralla bien conservada hasta el siglo VI d.C., antes de la invasión del 711. No obstante, las fuentes islámicas apuntan a una muralla con un estado de conservación discutible, y mencionan entre los siglos VIII y X d.C. que la ciudad de Córdoba fue dotada de nuevos recintos. Sin embargo, la investigación ha demostrado que dichas actuaciones eran más bien localizadas y que persistía la estructura fortificada antigua. Este trabajo se interroga sobre el proceso de recuperación del recinto antiguo en época islámica y sobre el abastecimiento de piedra para su construcción. Para ello, incorporaremos los resultados de un estudio petrográfico.
