Devonshire marbles—the greatest British decorative stones?

‘Devonshire marbles’ were once the pre‐eminent British decorative stones, installed in dozens of Victorian buildings in Britain and elsewhere. There are numerous varieties, none of which are true marbles for they retain the fossils and sedimentary textures of the original Devonian limestones. Quarried and manufactured across south Devon and used both internally and externally, the stones were part of a passing nineteenth century architectural fashion. There are 20 or so main varieties, mostly now unobtainable, but excellent examples are found in the panels, shafts and floors of some exceptionally fine buildings. These reveal much about the fossils, their depositional environments and the changes that affected them during the Variscan orogeny. Now rediscovered and distinguished for the first time using geological criteria, Devonshire marbles represent a valuable resource for geological, conservation, heritage and architectural research.     

Heritage stone in South Australia

South Australia has the greatest utilisation of heritage or building stone in Australia because of its lack of timber resources. Consequently, natural stone was intensively used from the beginning of European colonisation. Building stones in South Australia, notable for their variety given the State’s diverse geology, can be challenging to designate as to their international importance. However, dimension stone in South Australia can also be designated as having national, regional, local or prospective importance. Commonly, stone in South Australia is restricted in use to a specific town, or even a single construction, and has only local significance except where use involves special stone characteristics, unusual stone masonry or use in a building with significant heritage. For instance, the town of Second Valley has a localised use of marble, likely the earliest use (1849) of this rock type in the State. Another example, ‘Adelaide Black Granite’, quarried since 1958, should probably be recognised internationally as a ‘Global Heritage Stone Resource’, as it has had intensive monumental use around Australia, utilisation as cladding in modern buildings, as well as paving and walling in Australia’s National Parliament in Canberra. It has also been exported, notably used for the Australian Embassy in Japan and for a major War Memorial at Le Hamel, France. South Australian slate quarries also provide significant heritage stone. For example, the Willunga Slate quarry south of Adelaide has been sourced for roofing slate and walling since 1840 and is arguably the longest continuous mining operation in Australia; this resource has obvious national significance given a period of quarrying extending to the present, coupled with national distribution of its products. Probably the most widespread stone sourced in South Australia is the surface limestone or calcrete, quarried in the Adelaide area until the 1850s and used for general construction. The stone continues to be used in rural areas. While arguably only of local significance, it could be considered to have national importance because of its extensive use in churches, public building, hotels, houses and simple walling across a vast area of South Australia. Additional research is needed to clarify the heritage status of many building stones used in South Australia.     

An urban geomonumental route focusing on the petrological and decay features of traditional building stones used in Madrid, Spain

The stone traditionally used to build cities contributes to their personality and attests to the geological substrate on which they stand. While stone decay in the built heritage can be attributed to a number of causes, anthropic activity has a particularly significant impact. The geomonumental routes project is one of the initiatives proposed in recent years for urban routes that convey geological fundamentals by observing the rocks present in heritage structures. Its innovative approach addresses traditional stone properties, original quarrying sites and mechanisms of decay. Madrid’s Royal Palace is a fine example of the use of traditional building stone in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula. In the geomonumental route proposed, the building doubles as an in situ laboratory that affords an overview of the main petrological properties of the two traditional stones most commonly used in the city’s built heritage, the forms of decay they are subject and the factors underlying such alterations. This route constitutes a tool for showing the main petrological features and decay forms in traditional building stones found in urban heritage façades, with a special focus on anthropic impact, primarily air pollution and the use of conservation treatments that time has proven to be unsuitable.     

Testing of Sydney dimension sandstone for use in the conservation of heritage buildings

This paper deals with the scientific assessment of the physical properties of sandstone used in the conservation of Sydney's historic heritage sandstone buildings. The local Hawkesbury Sandstone has been widely used for all manner of constructions since the early days of the first settlement. In the nineteenth century, dimension sandstone quarries existed all over the Sydney region, and the demand for the stone was great. During this time, a true ‘freestone’ known as ‘yellow block’ sandstone, in which bedding planes were absent, was quarried extensively. This sandstone is also known as a ‘self-colouring’ sandstone, where the rock, although grey when quarried, turns a yellow–brown after a few months exposure to the atmosphere. It can be easily carved and was eminently suitable for the ornate Victorian architecture of the time. There are very few quarries within the Sydney region today capable of producing ‘yellow block’ sandstone. Whenever possible, sandstone from suitable building excavations, particularly on the Pyrmont Peninsula, is used for this work. Conservation work is extremely expensive and the building elements that most need replacement, the overhanging and decorative elements, are usually those that cost the most. It is essential that the most durable replacement stone be selected. Thus, a strict regime of scientific testing is used for any major conservation project, in order to determine the physical properties of possible replacement stone. This is the province of the geologist and involves visual observation in the quarry or excavation, which is a simple, cost-effective means of weeding out poor quality stones, followed by laboratory engineering tests to establish the physical parameters of a sandstone and finally, petrographic analysis. The results of such tests, combined with careful sampling, ensure the best possible quality of replacement material.     

Devonshire marbles: history of the industry and the geology of these classic British ornamental stones

Devonshire ‘marbles’ come from Mid– to Late Devonian limestones of south Devon, UK. They are not true marbles in the geological sense but were nonetheless tectonically buried during the Variscan orogenesis. They retain abundant palaeontological and sedimentological characters, overstamped by limited to extensive veining, deformation and brecciation. Recent work has revealed how these marbles have been used to decorate a wealth of buildings in Britain and overseas. There were two distinct industries, one that produced decorative marble for architectural use, and one that produced portable artefacts such as specimen marble tables and ornaments. The stones used in these two sister industries can be very different, a result of different sourcing of the same Devonshire limestones. A third industry sought to slice and polish local limestone pebbles to reveal their diverse coral, stromatoporoid and other fossil contents, and was aimed at tourists, collectors and museums. The history and early development of the marble industry are explored and the distinct characteristics of the stones used in Devonshire marble inlay are explained. The stones used in the parallel architectural trade are analysed elsewhere.     

Changing climate, changing process: implications for salt transportation and weathering within building sandstones in the UK

Salt weathering is a crucial process that brings about a change in stone, from the scale of landscapes to stone outcrops and natural building stone façades. It is acknowledged that salt weathering is controlled by fluctuations in temperature and moisture, where repeated oscillations in these parameters can cause re-crystallisation, hydration/de-hydration of salts, bringing about stone surface loss in the form of, for example, granular disaggregation, scaling, and multiple flaking. However, this ‘traditional’ view of how salt weathering proceeds may need to be re-evaluated in the light of current and future climatic trends. Indeed, there is considerable scope for the investigation of consequences of climate change on geomorphological processes in general. Building on contemporary research on the ‘deep wetting’ of natural building stones, it is proposed that (as stone may be wetter for longer), ion diffusion may become a more prominent mechanism for the mixing of molecular constituents, and a shift in focus from physical damage to chemical change is suggested. Data from ion diffusion cell experiments are presented for three different sandstone types, demonstrating that salts may diffuse through porous stone relatively rapidly (in comparison to, for example, dense concrete). Pore water from stones undergoing diffusion experiments was extracted and analysed. Factors controlling ion diffusion relating to ‘time of wetness’ within stones are discussed, (continued saturation, connectivity of pores, mineralogy, behaviour of salts, sedimentary structure), and potential changes in system dynamics as a result of climate change are addressed. System inputs may change in terms of increased moisture input, translating into a greater depth of wetting front. Salts are likely to be ‘stored’ differently in stones, with salt being in solution for longer periods (during prolonged winter wetness). This has myriad implications in terms of the movement of ions by diffusion and the potential for chemical change in the stone (especially in more mobile constituents), leading to a weakening of the stone matrix/grain boundary cementing. The ‘output’ may be mobilisation and precipitation of elements leading to, for example, uneven cementing in the stone. This reduced strength of the stone, or compromised ability of the stone to absorb stress, is likely to make crystallisation a more efficacious mechanism of decay when it does occur. Thus, a delay in the onset of crystallisation while stonework is wet does not preclude exaggerated or accelerated material loss when it finally happens.     

Palaeoecological,archaeological and historical data and the making of Devon landscapes. I. The Blackdown Hills

This paper presents the first systematic study of the vegetation history of a range of low hills in SW England, UK, lying between more researched fenlands and uplands. After the palaeoecological sites were located bespoke archaeological, historical and documentary studies of the surrounding landscape were undertaken specifically to inform palynological interpretation at each site. The region has a distinctive archaeology with late Mesolithic tool scatters, some evidence of early Neolithic agriculture, many Bronze Age funerary monuments and Romano‐British iron‐working. Historical studies have suggested that the present landscape pattern is largely early Medieval. However, the pollen evidence suggests a significantly different Holocene vegetation history in comparison with other areas in lowland England, with evidence of incomplete forest clearance in later‐Prehistory (Bronze?Iron Age). Woodland persistence on steep, but poorly drained, slopes, was probably due to the unsuitability of these areas for mixed farming. Instead they may have been under woodland management (e.g. coppicing) associated with the iron‐working industry. Data from two of the sites also suggest that later Iron Age and Romano‐British impact may have been geographically restricted. The documented Medieval land management that maintained the patchwork of small fields, woods and heathlands had its origins in later Prehistory, but there is also evidence of landscape change in the 6th–9th centuries AD. We conclude that the Blackdown Hills area was one of many ‘distinctive subregions’, which due to a combination of edaphic, topographic and cultural factors could qualify as an eco‐cultural region or ‘pays’. It is argued that the use of such eco‐culturally distinctive regions or pays can provide a spatial and archaeological framework for palaeoecology, which has implications for landscape research, designation and heritage management.     

Significance of a combined approach for replacement stones in the heritage buildings’ conservation frame

Stone substitution is a conventional operation during heritage buildings’ restoration, but becomes problematic for architects and restorers when the quarry is mined out. The compatibility of the substitution stones with the original ones has been for long mainly based on the aesthetical aspect, this resulting too often in a patchwork of original and substitution stones with different patina after several years because of differences of properties. In this study, the objective is to show how substitution stones can be selected by combining aesthetic criteria and stones properties that are relevant for analyzing their compatibility. A couple of French limestones with their potential substitution stones were selected for the study. Our results showed that potential substitution stones selected on their aesthetic criteria require to be rejected because of their differences of physical properties. On the other hand, our results showed also the possibility to select substitution stones with satisfactory aesthetic aspect and properties that enable to expect a satisfactory compatibility with the original stone.     

Determination of deterioration of the main facade of the Ferit Paşa Cistern by non-destructive techniques (Konya,Turkey)

Building stones have long been one of the most widely used construction materials in the world. Building stones used in historical monuments are deteriorated partly or completely depending on the environmental and atmospheric effects. In recent years, non-destructive test methods have been used to assess deterioration of building stones used in historical monuments. Gödene stone is one of the building stones being widely used in the historical buildings in the Konya region, Central Anatolia. The most deterioration effects are observed in the Ferit Pa?a Cistern among the historical structures built with Gödene stone in the region. The aim of this study is to assess the deteriorating effects in the street façade of the Ferit Pa?a Cistern via non-destructive testing methods (Schmidt hardness rebound value, P-wave velocity, humidity measurement and thermal imaging) and create maps of deteriorated features. Turkey’s historic places are integrated to Turkish culture, efforts are made to conserve heritage through rehabilitation. Therefore, this study will help developers and federal managers during the project planning stage by providing technical data.     

Graptolites: fossil and living

Every student of palaeontology will stumble upon the term ‘graptolite’ at some point and will wonder what these strange little fossils mean. Thought to be long extinct, the few living graptolites and their extinct relatives have been united quite recently by palaeontologists through cladistic analysis. Not that the extant graptolites were overlooked, but the connection has never been made between the fossil graptolites and their modern descendants. We now have a much better scientific basis for our interpretation and understanding of these fossils and graptolites are recognized as part of a living clade of small and inconspicuous marine organisms, the Pterobranchia. They have been around since the Cambrian Period (c. 520–510 Ma) and, thus, they may represent one of the longest‐existing groups of organisms. Not that they should be termed ‘living fossils’, but their perseverance is remarkable in its own way and may lead to the question as to how they were able to achieve this success and survive for all these eons. May they be able to show us a key to survival in the future?     

South Australian geology and the State Heritage Register: an example of geoconservation of the Naracoorte Caves complex and karst environment

South Australia’s State Heritage Register contains 2294 listed places, the majority of which are from the ‘Built’ environment, ranging from settlers’ huts, community buildings, historical industrial sites to magnificent stone mansions. Only 96 places are linked to the ‘Natural’ environment. The Register listings protect heritage places from alteration, damage or removal without formal prior consultation, compulsory under the South Australian Development Act. ‘Natural’ environments are landscape-based and oriented towards Geological, Archaeological, Palaeontological and Speleological heritage (‘GAPS heritage’). A process to provide a greater balance between ‘Natural’ and ‘Built’ listings has initiated a series of State Heritage ‘Natural’ environment assessments, mostly of single sites. Two individual caves in the Naracoorte Caves National Park are already entered in the State Heritage Register as single sites. However, an innovative broader multiple-site nomination has focused on the many different but significant GAPS features contained within the 25 caves of the Naracoorte Caves National Park, providing a further level of protection for the land and the caves’ exteriors and interiors. The example of the Naracoorte Caves draws attention to the number of important land and coastal karst (limestone) features across South Australia that were generated by steady geological uplift of three large sections of Oligocene–Miocene limestone—the Nullarbor Plain, the Murray Basin and the Gambier Karstfield (which includes Naracoorte and Mount Gambier), resulting in specific karst forms worthy of a broader coordinating management approach across South Australian karst parks.     

Amino‐acid geochronology and the British Pleistocene: secure stratigraphical framework or a case of circular reasoning?

Aminostratigraphy is central to the recently revised correlation of Quaternary deposits in the British Isles, providing a link between terrestrial deposits and marine Oxygen Isotope Stages. The central tenet of British aminostratigraphy, however, that shells from the same interglacial yield very similar ratios, so that the characteristic ratios from different interglacials are distinct, remains uncertain. The data available suggest that amino‐acid ratios from different interglacials do not fall into discrete groups, but overlap considerably. It is therefore not valid to assign individual shells to Oxygen Isotope Stages simply on the basis of their amino‐acid ratios, which means that filtering data to remove high or low values, on the assumption that they represent reworked shells, is unacceptable. The range of ‘characteristic ratios’ assigned to British warm stages may have been underestimated and the degree of separation between them overestimated. Amino‐acid ratios should be treated as sample data that are naturally variable. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The spectacular fossils of the ‘water margin’: the Cambrian biota of Chengjiang,Yunnan, China

Shi Nai'an's fourteenth century Chinese epic ‘Water Margin’ tells of the release of 36 heavenly spirits and 72 baleful stars from their captivity beneath a tablet of stone at Mount Longhu in Jiangxi Province. They are reincarnated as the 108 heroes of the Liangshan marsh in Shandong Province, who rise against an unjust world. The virtuous exploits of the ‘108’ were brought to life through the cathode‐ray screens of 1970s television sets, as the TV series The Water Margin introduced heroes like Lin Chong battling his evil nemesis Gao Qiu. Far to the west of Jiangxi Province and several hundred years after the Water Margin during the summer of 1984, a young scientist from Nanjing was working amongst the hills and lakes of southern Yunnan Province. He too overturned a stone slab, releasing from their half‐billion year captivity a cornucopia of new Chinese legends. His name was Xianguang Hou and he had made one of the most momentous fossil discoveries in history, uncovering the exceptionally preserved marine fossils of the Chengjiang biota from the ancient water margin of Cambrian seas.     

Evaluation of a numerical model of the British–Irish ice sheet using relative sea‐level data: implications for the interpretation of trimline observations

The glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) of the British Isles is complex due to the interplay between local and non‐local signals. A number of recent studies have modelled the GIA response of the British Isles using relative sea‐level data. This study extends these previous analyses by using output from a numerical glaciological model as input to a GIA model. This is a necessary step towards more realistic GIA models, and although there have been similar studies for the major late Pleistocene ice sheets, this is the first study to do so for the British Isles. We test three reconstructions, classed as ‘minimal’, ‘median’ and ‘maximal’ in terms of their volume at maximum extent, and find it is possible to obtain good data–model fits. The minimal reconstruction is clearly preferred by the sea‐level data. The ice reconstructions tested were not constrained by geomorphological information of past ice extent (lateral and vertical). As a consequence, the reconstructions extend further than much of this information suggests, particularly in terms of ice thickness. It is notable, however, that the reconstructions produce good fits to many sea‐level data from central, mountainous regions (e.g. Scottish highlands), which lends support to the suggestion that trimlines, often used as an constraint on the palaeo ice surface location, are in fact features formed at the transition from warm‐ to cold‐based ice and so mark a minimum constraint on the ice surface altitude. Based on data–model misfits, suggestions are made for improving the ice model reconstructions. However, in many locations, the cause of the misfit could be due to non‐local, predominantly Fennoscandian ice and so interpretation is not straightforward. As a result, we suggest that future analyses of this type consider models and observations for both Fennoscandia and the British Isles. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling prehistory: from the Crystal Palace Park to ‘Jurassic Park’

Dinosaurs and related ‘prehistoric’ fossil vertebrates have captured the imagination of children and adults from almost their first discovery in the early nineteenth century, and it is not surprising that physical representations of them would be made. From these early beginnings, there must be thousands of different prehistoric models out there in the ‘Dinosaur Toy universe’. Even before the advent of the movie ‘Jurassic Park’, every toy shop had a display area devoted to them, and specialist toy manufacturers were bringing out very scientifically accurate models. But I want to concentrate on my favourites from the pre‐‘Jurassic Park’ era and particularly those available in the USA and Britain. Some may look a bit like tail‐dragging swamp dwellers, but I like them and so do many other collectors. As well as those the avid dinosaur collector might come across at model fairs and online I will also mention some that are more likely to be seen in museum displays.     

Determining proper strategies for Iran’s dimensional stone mines: a SWOT–AHP analysis

Iran has very high potential for production and export of dimension stone (rock quarried to size and shape specifications); nevertheless, in spite of growing mine production during the past decade, in many instances this potential has been overlooked. Construction, decorative, and facing stones of Iran are among the highest-quality products in the world. In this paper, Iran’s dimensional stone mines are analyzed using strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis in combination with analytic hierarchy process (AHP). SWOT analysis is a tool commonly used for analyzing both the internal and external environments in order to attain a systematic approach and support for a decision situation. Conventionally, SWOT analysis is qualitative and does not quantify the effect of the factors. Consequently, it is not effective in priority setting. To overcome this limitation, SWOT analysis has been used in combination with other quantitative multi-criteria decision making methods especially the AHP. In this study, first an environment analysis was performed by an expert team familiar with these mines. In this way, the SWOT factors were identified and the subfactors which had very significant effects on the success of these mines were determined. Using the SWOT subfactors, the SWOT matrix and alternative strategies based on these subfactors were developed. Subsequently, the strategies were prioritized and the best strategies for Iran’s dimensional stone mines were determined.     

Rapakivi granites

Rapakivi granites, especially the famous rapakivis from southern Finland, are some of the most attractive building and decorative stones, used world-wide because of their striking textures and beautiful colours. But rapakivi granites are more than just building material, they have also been studied scientifically for over 100 years to try to explain the formation of their plagioclase-mantled alkali feldspar ovoids, the rapakivi feldspars which are responsible for the unique texture of the rock. Despite all the work which has been done on them, the formation of this distinctive texture is still not fully understood. Rapakivi granite complexes are not just a 'pretty face', they are also associated with important tin deposits in Rondônia and Amazonas in Brazil.     

Abraham Gottlob Werner: History and folk‐history

The Neptunist‐Vulcanist controversy has distorted the reputations of both James Hutton and Abraham Gottlob Werner. Among English‐speaking geologists, Hutton is often presented as the Father of Modern Geology, whereas Werner's views are seen as ‘palpably absurd’. Both men made major contributions to geology, but they were men of their age, the second half of the eighteenth century, and remote in their general ideas from those current since Lyell's day in the mid‐nineteenth. Werner was greatly admired by some of his ablest contemporaries, and their admiration becomes inexplicable if we regard his views as ‘palpably absurd’. Historical research in the last few years, reviewed here, is able to show how Werner's views arose and why they seemed persuasive at the time. Some examples of Neptunist observations in Australia in the 1820's are given to show the application and later modification of the theory.     

The use of X-ray tomography in the study of water repellents and consolidants

To reduce the weathering rate of natural building stones, a wide variety of water repellents and consolidants are commercially available. Although a lot of research is performed on these products, it remains difficult to determine which product is appropriate to use for a certain type of building stone. Each type of building stone has its own petrographic characteristics (mineralogy, texture, …), leading to typical physical and technical properties which influence its rate of decay. The localisation of the products inside a stone type is not only depending on the properties of the products themselves, but also linked to the texture and structure of the stone. The impregnation depth of the products strongly influences their efficiency and is therefore a key issue in the determination if a product is functional for a certain type of stone. X-ray micro-CT has recently been introduced as a non-destructive material evaluation technique for engineering and geology purposes. The fact that micro-CT can provide information about the internal structure and properties of natural building stones, is a major advantage in the study of their conservation. Firmly linked with more classical research techniques, this non-destructive technique offers an extra dimension to the cultural heritage research.In this paper, non-destructive X-ray computed micro-tomography (micro-CT) turns out to be a powerful tool as it can visualise the presence of water repellents and consolidants inside the stone and can help to detect the influence that these treatments exert on porosity and pore-size distribution. For the visualization of the product its atomic number and density and the amount of product inside the natural building stone is crucial. Besides the contrast in attenuation, the resolution of the micro-CT also needs to be taken into account to obtain a good contrast between stone and product. By doping with 3-bromopropyltrimethoxysilane, more contrast occurs between the stone material and the conservation product. When the amount of product inside the samples is very low and the product is homogeneously spread inside the sample, the doped product is difficult to distinguish from the stone material due to the resolution of the micro-CT. When the amount of doped product inside the stone material reaches a certain threshold value, the dope will appear in the 2D cross-sections derived from micro-CT, creating a good visualization of the products inside the stone samples.