Geoenvironmental studies on conservation of archaeological sites at Siwa oasis, Egypt |
| |
Authors: | Hani A M Ibrahim Gamal E Kamh |
| |
Institution: | (1) Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Menofia University, Shebin Elkom, Egypt |
| |
Abstract: | Siwa oasis is located in the extreme western part of the Egyptian western desert. There are several archaeological sites in
the oasis; the most distinct ones are Alexander the Great temple at Aghormi hill and the Gebel El Mota tomb excavations. They
have suffered due to deterioration and cracks of different kinds and some parts are getting worse as rock falls occur. From
field inspection and lab analysis, it is clear that lithology plays an important role on the extent of damage. Alexander the
Great temple was built over the northern edge of Aghormi hill, which consists of two distinct beds—an upper limestone bed
and a lower shale one. From field survey and laboratory analysis, the shale is considered as a high expanded bed and weak
in its bearing capacity, as its clay content (mainly smectite) experienced swelling due to wetting from the ground water spring
underneath. Consequently, the upper limestone bed suffered from map cracking associated with rock falls due to the differential
settlement of the swelled lower shale one. The temple was threatened by slope instability and had experienced many cracks.
At Gabal El Mota tomb excavations, it was noticed that a comparison of tombs of the same opening size revealed that those
that excavated on shale beds had cracked much more than those that excavated on limestone. This may be attributed to the low
bearing capacity of excavated shale walls. The remedial measures suggested to overcome the stability problems on these archaeological
sites are grouting or construction of retaining walls. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|