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Quantification of Salt Weathering at Hot

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沙漠研究 26-3,
Ἃ₍◊✲ 26-3,143-152
143 - 152(2016)
(2016)
Journal of Arid Land Studies
Journal of Arid Land Studies
http://dx.doi.org/10.14976/jals.26.3_143 － DT12 Refereed Paper －
http://dx.doi.org/10.14976/jals.26.3_143 㸫DT12 Refereed Paper㸫

Quantification of Salt Weathering at Hot Deserts and Evaluation of

Reconstruction Rock, Hibis Temple, Kharga Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt
Ismael HOSAM*1) and G. M. E. KAMH 2)
Abstract: The Western Desert of Egypt is enriched with natural phenomena as oases and protected areas e.g. White desert of Farafra Oasis.
These protected areas are composed of rocks naturally weathered forming an attractive forms, also, it has several archaeological sites started in
age from early dynasties in the Egyptian history, e.g. Temples of Karnak and Luxor in Luxor City, to the Greco-Roman time as those spread
on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The severe dry hot climate of this desert results in physical rock’s weathering that can be noted on
micro-scale using scanning electron microscope and mega-scale through field observations. Kharga Oasis, in the heart of the Western Desert,
is enriched with number of highly ranked archaeological sites e.g. Hibis Temple having a unique design and historical rank. It suffers salt
weathering with diagnostic features e.g. salt efflorescence, scaling, pitting, cracking etc. So, the current study aims to examine and
quantification of this weathering on mega-scale and micro-scale using suitable equipment(s) e.g. field recording of weathering forms’ types
and dimensions; Transmitting Polarizing Microscope “TPM”, Scanning Electron Microscope “SEM”, X-ray diffraction “XRD”, Ultrasonic
waves. Also, this study examines the durability of the reconstruction rock used at some parts of this site using Age Accelerating Chamber
“AAC”. This is to find out the suitability of this rock for reconstruction at such hot dry region suffering salt weathering. This study can be
used as a guide for further studies on archaeological sites at such environment to keep them preserved for longer centuries for the coming
generations.

Key Words: Hibis Temple, Hot dry regions, Reconstruction rock, Salt weathering.

archaeological sites that are almost built from sandstone blocks,

1. Introduction
Weathering processes are among the very deleterious
factors that partly or completely demolish such remains.
They are acting either physically, chemically and/or
biologically solely and/or in combination with different ranks
of aggression based on the prevailing environmental conditions
at a given area as well as rock’s physical and geotechnical
properties’ limits (Elaine et al., 1992; Salman et al., 2010).
Salt weathering has been recorded worldwide at all
environments i.e. from the hot dry deserts to the extreme cold
wet regions (Hutchinson et al., 1993; Takahashi et al., 1994;
McBrid and Picard, 2004). Almost all ancient and recent
structures built from different materials e.g. stones, wood,
mud-brick, suffer weathering at different rates and intensities
resulting in deterioration of these buildings to deleterious limits
based on the severity and type of weathering processes on one
hand, and the durability of building materials on the other hand
(Issawi and El-Hinnawi, 1982; Kamh and Azzam, 2008).
Several previous studies have been interested in weathering
investigations using different techniques to semi-qualify the net
result of weathering (Benavente et al., 2001) . The
well-known and applicable publication in semi-quantification
of rock's weathering is that of Fitzner and Heinrichs (2002).
The area of investigation, Kharga Oasis, is enriched with
* Corresponding Author: hossam_geography@yahoo.com
Egypt
1) Geography and GIS Dept., Fac. of Arts, Assiut University, New Valley Branch
2) Geoarchaeology, Faculty of Science, Menoufiya University
derived from local quarries, while others had been built from
mud-bricks e.g. El-Kabawat (or Bagawat) Christian buildings
of the 2nd Century. Among these sites, we mention Hibis
Temple, Doosh Temple, Ghawita Temple and Kasr El-Zaiyan.
These sites, as well as others, are spread in Kharga Oasis as
shown in Figure 1. The Kharga Oasis is characterized by hot
dry climate, with sub-surface water at depths around 0.5m at
low topography areas as that at Hibis Temple and its
surroundings while the depth of sub-surface water at the high
topography areas is deep and needs pumping to be withdrawn.
Hibis Temple is the main site of investigation, in the current
study, located at latitude 25°28’38”N and longitude
30°33’26”E. This temple is located at a distance of 3 km
North of the Kharga City on the western side of the desert road
leading to Assiut City. This temple is located on a relatively
high topography area and dated back to 660-330 years B.C.
The main axe of this temple is oriented East-West direction
with a total length 42 m and its width is about 19 m with a total
area around 798 m2.
The current study aims to quantify salt weathering damage
and weathering processes acting at the base of this temple, also,
it aims to quantitatively evaluate the durability of
reconstruction rock used at the first half of the 19th Century for
restoration of this temple.
㸦Received, July 22nd, 2016; Accepted, November 29th, 2016㸧
144
Fig. 1. Map of Egypt presenting location of Kharga Oasis.
Fig. 2. Diagram presenting the structure of Hibis Temple and its
orientation.
2. Methodology
To achieve the aims of the current study, Field and
laboratory investigations have been conducted.
2.1. Field investigation
The field investigations include; recording all weathering
forms and measuring their dimensions (e.g. density, area %
affected by weathering form, length of linear form, thickness of
sheet form) to semi-quantify the damage category of this
temple. The weathering forms are grouped into four major
groups namely; Group I (Loss of Stone Materials “LS”),
Group II (Discoloration/Deposits “DD”), Group III
(Detachment “DT”) and Group IV (Fissures/Deformation
“FD”) (Fitzner and Heinrichs, 1995). Then damage category
at the different parts of this temple has been defined using the
scale of Kamh et al., (2013) listed below:
Damage Category 0: No visible damage can be recorded
regarding stone’s surface and/or its inscriptions and paints.
Damage Category 1: Very slight damage can be recorded i.e.
Fig. 3. Blank DCAW Scheme of Fitzner (1988) for determining
damage category including all weathering forms.
rock body presents weathering forms that are grouped into
D.D., D.T. and/or L.S. on its inscriptions and/or paints to
less than 5% of the rock body area.
Damage Category 2: Slight damage category can be recorded
i.e. rock body presents weathering forms that are grouped
into D.D., D.T., L.S. and/or F.D on its inscriptions and/or
paints at 5 to 10% of the rock body area.
Damage Category 3: Moderate damage category can be
recorded i.e. rock body presents weathering forms that are
grouped into D.D., D.T., L.S. and/or F.D. on its inscriptions
and/or paints at 10 to 25% of the rock body area.
Damage Category 4: Severe damage category can be recorded
i.e. rock body presents weathering forms that are grouped
into D.D., D.T., L.S. and/or F.D. on its inscriptions and/ or
paints at 25 to 50% of the rock body area.
Damage Category 5: Very severe damage category can be
recorded i.e. rock body presents weathering forms that are
grouped into D.D., D.T., L.S. and/or F.D on its wall mass
body and inscriptions only, as paints at D.C. 5 is almost
totally demolished, at more than 50% of the rock body
area.
Then, the overall damage category of this temple can be
defined using the Scheme known as Damage Category scale
including All Weathering forms (DCAW Scheme (Fig. 3) of
Fitzner (1988). This Scheme includes all weathering groups
and enable defining the damage category of the building in a
semi-quantitative form. This also enables taking a decision
regarding the urgency of restoration for the whole site or part
of it.

2.2. Laboratory investigations
It has been conducted using tiny rock samples collected at
the weathered parts, recently reconstructed parts, and remains
of the reconstruction (control) rock used at this temple. These
investigations included:
(a) Texture and Mineralogical studies for thin sections,
prepared for these three types of the collected rock samples,
examined under the power of a transmitting polarizing
microscope, scanning electron microscope supported with
electron dispersive X-ray (EDX). This is to clarify, under
high magnification power, weathering on nano-scale as well as
any salt or clay content in the texture of the examined samples.
(b) Rock’s salt content that will be conducted using extracted
solutions prepared from the weathered and control samples
following the method of Rhoades (1982) by adding 100ml of
bi-distilled water to 20 gm of the dry powder of this rock then,
this mixture is well mixed for 20 minutes then filtrated to get
the extracted solution for measuring the solution's total
dissolved salts its electrical conductivity and the hypothetical
dissolved salts. This analysis aims to measure in a
semi-quantitative form the rock's salt content that explains the
possibility of salt weathering to act on building materials of this
temple. The salt accumulation within rock's pores result in
alteration of pore properties that might increase rock’s
susceptibility to weathering (Yamashita and Suzuki, 1986).
(c) Rock's physical properties have been determined using the
Ultrasonic waves to get the velocity of these waves “Cp” that is
decreased on rock's weathering progress (Kapranos et al.,
1981), rock’s internal friction “Qc” that is increased on rock’s
weathering progress, the equations used for computing the Cp
and Qc are those of Calleja et al (2000) listed as follows:
[(Ao + At) / (Ao – At)] = X
(ʌ n / Qc) = {ln [2/ (1 - X)]} / (1 + X)
Cp = 2 Lf /n
Where Ao and At are initial and steady magnitude of the
ultrasonic waves; n is the mode number at which we get the
best Echo-form for the waves; Qc is material’s internal friction;
Cp is the velocity of the ultrasonic waves; L is the sample's
length [cm]; f is the frequency of the waves.
(d) Rock’s pore properties, It has been reported before that two
rock samples may be of equal total porosity but still experience
difference in their weathering susceptibility, and this is found to
be a result of pore size distribution “PSD” (McGreevy, 1996;
Benavente et al., 2004 and 2007 ) that has been measured in
the current study, using the Autopore IV-5900 micrometric
mercury intrusion prosimeter (MIP IV-5900 that works at
mercury pressure up to 33000 psi), for the weathered and
control rock samples. This provides rock’s total porosity
“ĭ%”, grain density “Gd”, bulk density “ࢼd” and pore size
distribution “PSD”. Then, the rock’s salt susceptibility index
145
Table 1. Salt susceptibility index and its interpretation (Swe and
Oguchi, 2010).
SSI Interpretation
0 ” SSI< 1 Exceptionally salt resistant (Extremely Durable)
1 ” SSI < 2 Very salt resistant (Very high durable)
2 ” SSI < 4 Salt resistant (Highly durable)
4 䍸 SSI <10 Salt prone (M oderately durable)
10 䍸 SSI <15 Very salt prone (Low durability)
15 䍸 SSI < 20 Exceptionally salt prone (Very low durability)
(SSI) can be computed using Swe and Oguchi (2010) equation
listed as follows:
SSI = (Ipc + Ipm0.1) (Pm5 / Pc)
Where Ipc is index of total connected porosity; Ipm0.1 is index
of microporosity of pores smaller than 0.1 ȝm in radius; Pc is
total connected porosity, and Pm5 is micro-porosity of pores
smaller than 5 ȝm in radius.
The Swe and Oguchi (2010) classification for SSI has been
used to find out the limit of building and/or reconstruction
rock's susceptibility to salt weathering. This classification is
listed in Table 1.
e) Rock's durability: it is a measure of rock’s resistance to
weathering at a given environment taking several years if
conducted under natural conditions, consequently, an artificial
weathering, at the laboratory using Age Accelerating Chamber
(AAC), has been conducted through exposing a given rock to
intensive conditions as that dominate at the site of study but.
Sodium sulfate has been recorded to be effective in rock’s
weathering, consequently, it became widely used in such sort
of tests (Price, 1978; Smith and McGreevy, 1983 and Tsui et
al., 2003). Artificial weathering by salts at hot arid regions
(as that area of investigation) has been conducted (Sperling and
Cooke, 1985). Also, similar investigation has been
previously conducted on sandstone of some archaeological
sites at hot dry regions e.g. Seti I Temple at Luxor City (Kamh
and Azzam, 2008). This artificial weathering enables a
quantification of rock's deterioration on weathering progress
(Benavente et al., 2001), it has been conducted in the current
study on the constructional, re-constructional and control
sandstone samples collected at Hibis Temple. The
Continuous Partial Immersion at Hot and Cool Temperature
(CPI-HT/CPI-CT) regimes have been conducted to imitate the
climatic conditions dominating at Kharga Oasis. The regime
cycle is 24h altering among HT (Temp. more than 40oC and
relative humidity less than 10%) and CT (Temp. down to zero
oC and relative humidity less than 10%) every 12 h, and the
stone bars are continuously partially immersed in 0.5 M
sodium sulfate salt solution. The test has been extended to 30
cycles i.e. 30 days taking into consideration weighting the
sample every 2 cycles and photo-documented to record
146
(a) General view of Hibis Temple
(c) Anthropogenic impact, cracking, granular disintegration, loss of
inscription s
(e) Loss of inscriptions, damping, bad restoration
(g) Original construction rock affected by loss of inscriptions and
Anthropogenic impact
Fig. 4. Photo-documentation of the different weathering forms at the temple’s sectors.
weathering progress over test progress. At the end of this test,
the weight loss has been computed, and the durability class and
value of the original construction rock, reconstruction rock and
the control rock samples have been determined using Barry
diagram (1991).
3. Results
3.1. Field results
The detailed field description of weathering forms (e.g.
exfoliation, back weathering, loss of stone’s surface inscriptions,
(b) Salt efflorescence, loss of inscriptions, bad restoration
(d) Intersected cracking, loss of stone material, salt efflorescence
(f) Two columns recently re-constructed with laminated sandstone
(h) Set of cracks affecting inscriptions, loss of stone material, bad restoration
cracking, salt efflorescence, roughening, loss of stone material,
granular disintegration into sand) and measuring its parameters
(e.g. volume, density, thickness, wall side area percentage
affected by a given weathering form) have been conducted to
define the damage category of the temple under investigation
using the DCAW scheme (Fig. 3). Photo-documentation of the
different weathering forms at the temple’s sectors have been
represented and indicated in Figure 4.
Considering the weathering forms and their dimensions at
Hibis Temple, the damage category has been defined, using
Kamh et al (2013) damage category scale, for this site

Fig. 5. DCAW Scheme presenting the damage category of Hibis
Temple regarding all weathering form.
Fig. 6. Thin section photo-micrograph presenting composition of the
constructional rock of Hibis Temple (XLN, 40 X).
regarding each group of these forms. It has been determined
that the average damage category of this temple regarding to
“DCLS” is 2 i.e. Slight damage category, and 1 “Very slight
damage category” regarding DCDD weathering group, and 3
“Moderate damage category” regarding DCDT weathering
group, and 3 “Moderate damage category” regarding to DCFD
weathering group. Then, the overall damage category of this
temple has been determined using DCAW Scheme of Fitzner
(1988) (Fig. 6). So, the overall damage category of this
temple regarding all weathering forms in the four groups is 4
i.e. severe damage category (Fig. 6). The main reason(s)
behind this severe damage category will be clarified through
the laboratory study for tiny rock samples collected at this
temple and examined using suitable techniques as listed in the
sections below.
3.2. Laboratory results
3.2.1. Petrographic and Mineralogical study
The constructional rock of this temple has been examined
at low and high power of magnification using a transmitting
polarizing microscope and scanning electron microscope
respectively. Not only that but also, using X-ray diffraction to
147
Fig. 7. Thin section photo-micrograph presenting composition of the
re-construction rock of Hibis Temple (XLN, 40 X).
Fig. 8. Scanning electron photo-micrograph presenting kaolinite as a
matrix for the sandstone used at Hibis Temple.
Fig. 9. Scanning electron photo-micrograph presenting deterioration
and pore shape of rock’s components for the re-construction
sandstone used at Hibis Temple.
get the mineralogical composition of this constructional rock.
It has been indicated that the constructional rock is sandstone
mainly of arkosic texture with sub-rounded to sub-angular
moderately sorted quartz grains (Fig. 6). Unclear material
cementing the quartz grains of this constructional rock can be
noted, it will be more investigated at higher power of
magnification using SEM. While the re-construction rock is
Arkosic sandstone with moderately sorted sub-rounded wavy
extinction quartz, it is enriched with unknown clays, as a matrix,
that will be examined through SEM investigation (Fig. 7).
For more clarification on matrix (almost clays) type and
weathering on micro-scale of the rock's components, the
scanning electron microscope has been used indicting kaolinite
as a rock matrix almost for the re-construction and the
construction sandstone (Fig. 8). Disintegration of quartz
148
Table 2. Type and percentage of the Hypothetical dissolved salts for the constructional, reconstructional and control sandstone at Hibis Temple,
Kharga Oasis.
Table 3. Ultrasonic waves’ measurements for the weathered constructional and reconstructional as well as control samples collected at Hibis
Temple, Kharga Oasis.
grains as well as K-feldspar can be noted in the field of
investigation particularly for the weathered re-construction
rock (Fig. 9).
3.2.2. Rock’s salt content
It has been examined for the extracted solutions prepared
from the constructional rock as well as reconstruction and
control samples at this temple. The total dissolved salts
(TDS) as well as type and percentage of the hypothetical
dissolved salts have been determined through titration and
flame-photometer, the results are listed in Table 2. The
average total dissolved salts for the weathered constructional
blocks of this temple is 7900 ppm that is about three times as
that of the weathered re-constructional rock and about ten
times as that of the control rock (Table 2). This reflects the
salt content accumulated and crystallized at and within rock's
pores of the rock blocks constituting the basal parts (damping
zone) of this temple. The dominant hypothetical dissolved
salts in the examined samples are almost Sodium Chloride
with percentage ranging from 41-62%, sulfates (particularly
Calcium Sulphate) comes in the second order with about
quarter percentage as Sodium Chloride (Table 2).
3.2.3. Rock’s physical properties
It has been examined for the representative samples
selected in the current study through measuring the velocity of
the waves and rock's internal friction. The relative velocity
(Cp) of the ultrasonic waves as well as the rock’s internal
friction (Qc) reflects in a semi-quantitative form the weathering
grade (deformation of rock’s texture resulting in creation of
secondary porosity). On weathering progress, the Cp is
decreased and Qc is increased (Montoto et al., 1981; Calleja et
al., 2000). The rock’s textural iso-tropism can be computed
by measuring the velocity of these waves in two directions
(Cp1 and Cp2) at right angle to each other, then, dividing
Cp1/Cp2. The rock is considered as isotropic one if the result
of Cp1/Cp2 = 1, but the an-isotropic rock is that with value
rather than the right one value. The iso/ an-isotropism
indicates the degree of rock’s susceptibility to weathering that
is increased on increasing rock's an-isotropism of building
blocks of a given building. Such measurements have been
conducted for the selected rock samples and the measurements
are listed in Table 3.
The results indicated that the weathered constructional rock

Table 4. Rock’s pore properties for the weathered constructional and reconstructional as well as control samples collected at Hibis Temple,
Kharga Oasis.
Table 5. Durability test results for the weathered constructional and reconstructional as well as control samples collected at Hibis Temple, Kharga
Oasis.
has the lowest internal friction compared with the weathered
reconstruction rock. This reflects either the weathering grade
of these types of the examined rock samples or the rock's
texture (particularly lamination) that is controlled by its mineral
composition or depositional environment of these facies. The
results indicated that the constructional rock is more isotropic
than the laminated or vari-colored re-constructional rock (Table
3). The pore properties will also be examined to find out if the
pore properties act as another factor increasing rock’s
susceptibility to weathering, particularly by salts, or not.
3.2.4. Rock’s pore properties
It has been measured for weathered constructional and
re-constructional samples as well as control samples collected
at this site. The pore properties have been measured using
Auto-pore MIP-5900 working at low and high mercury
pressure. The data has been processed following the processing
steps of Swe and Oguchi (2010) to get the rock's Salt
Susceptibility Index (SSI) that is a reflection for rock’s
weathering vulnerability. It also provides rock’s porosity and
both of grain and bulk densities, the results are listed in Table 4.
It has been indicated that the original constructional rock has
an average total porosity of value 21% and SSI ranging from
6.2-7.1 i.e. Salt prone rock with pore radii almost more than 2.5
149
micron, while the reconstruction rock used in the main body of
this temple has total porosity with average value 24% with the
same SSI (Salt prone) class and pore radii is also with high
percentage in the value more than 2.5 micron (Table 4). The
weathered re-constructional rock with an average total porosity
23.4% has SSI very salt prone class with value ranging from
12.3*13.1 (Table 4). These types of sandstone have very
close value of total porosity but their SSI is based on pore radii
as indicated from MIP results (Table 4).
3.2.5. Artificial weathering
The artificial weathering throws light on a relative or
absolute rock’s durability to weathering particularly by salts.
Consequently, it has been done in the current study to verify if
the constructional / re-constructional sandstone is durable
enough to salt weathering or not. The results (durability class
and weight loss percentage) will be correlated with the
durability of control samples on one hand, and correlated to
rock's SSI on the other hand.
The results indicated that the constructional sandstone has
the lowest limit of weight loss (%) with a durability class “D”
and the same class for the control sandstone but with higher
limits of weight loss (%) (Table 5 and Fig. 10). While the
weathered re-construction sandstone presents the highest
150
Fig. 10. Barry diagram with presentation of weight loss percentage of
the building and control stones at Hibis Temple, to determine
their durability class and value.
weight loss (%) with durability class “E”. The inter-relation
between rock's durability and its properties e.g. iso-tropism,
pore size distribution, salt content and mineral composition
will be considered in the discussion section to achieve the aims
of this study.
4. Discussion
The temple under investigation is of a great value, for that,
we have focused on it as a historical structure built 2600 years
ago at good environment that became recently an aggressive
(through severe temperature changes, salt weathering as well
as anthropogenic impacts) affecting on its building stones
including its inscriptions that reveal part of history that we did
not live. The constructional rock of this temple is sandstone
with arkosic texture that is texturally mature, almost composed
of quartz with rare clay (Kaolinite) content. The same has
been noted for re-constructional rock but with noticeable
kaolinite content (Fig. 9). The weathering features noted
either on rock's components or the matrix (mainly the
kaolinite) of the building blocks (almost the re-construction
sandstone) are an indication of physical weathering processes
(e.g. salt crystallization within rock’s pores and/or diurnal
abrupt temperature changes) (Benavente et al., 2004; Kamh
and Azzam, 2008). Damping at basal courses (deforming
rock's components by swelling particularly its clay content)
and salt crystallization (physically disintegrating its
components e.g. quartz and feldspars) at climatic conditions,
dominating at Kharga Oasis, result in alteration of pore size
distribution (particularly for the construction rock) altering it
from salt resistant to salt prone, or salt prone re-construction
rock to very salt prone (Table 4). The textural iso-tropism of
the facies under investigation, indicated by ultrasonic waves'
measurements, clarifies that rock’s weathering is not mainly a
result of its primary (depositional) micro-structures but almost
a result of pore size distribution. For more clarification, the
constructional as well as re-constructional rock have nearly the
same porosity (Table 4) but with noticeable difference in their
grain and bulk density due to their mineral composition (quartz
and clays), then, the difference between these facies of
sandstone is their PSD (Table 4). One of the reasons behind
distribution or re-distribution of pore size of the rock under
investigation is filling its pores with secondary minerals e.g.
salts that crystallize from its saturated solutions on evaporation
at stone's surface at hot dry regions that dominate in the Middle
East (Yamashita and Suzuki, 1986). This alteration of rock's
pores may alter the rock's susceptibility to weathering
particularly by salts as that noted for the re-construction rock at
Hibis Temple (Table 4). The impact of pore size distribution
on rock's susceptibility to salt weathering has been proved in
the current study through artificial weathering where building
stone with pore radii ranging from 0.1-1.0 micron is Very salt
prone (weathered re-construction rock, Table 4), while those
with pore radii more than 2.5 micron are Salt prone (weathered
construction rock as well as control sandstone, Table 4). The
value of SSI (Table 4) enables more differentiation between the
salt prone sandstone types (weathered construction and control
sandstones) where the former has lower values of SSI than the
latter one.
Correlating the weight loss percentage of these facies
(Table 5) with their SSI (Table 4), it can be noted high direct
proportional relation between both of them i.e. facies with
higher SSI presents higher weight loss on salt weathering
progress and vice versa. But on correlating either of these
results with rock’s TDS, it can be noted an inverse proportional
relation rather than direct proportional relation as it was
expected i.e. the weathered constructional rock with lowest SSI
and weight loss was expected to be with relatively lower TDS
and EC and the weathered re-constructional rock with highest
SSI and weight loss percentage was expected to be with
highest TDS and EC but the situation is vice versa to what was
expected. The explanation of that at low limits of rock’s salt
content, the salts act as a binding material for the rock’s
components and altering the rock's pore radii resulting in rock
with lower or higher salt susceptibility index than its original
state (Table 4). This has been resulted in the construction or
re-construction rock of this temple at these low limits of rock’s
salt content (Table 2). This critical pore radii that makes the
salts act as a deleterious material within rock's pores and this
critical pore radii for this arkosic sandstone has been
determined in the current study to be in the range of 0.1-1.0

Table 6. Conclusive table for the field and laboratory investigations conducted at Hibis Temple to quantify its damage category based on salt
weathering at hot dry deserts.
micron (Table 4). Consequently, on filling the rock’s pores
with this amount of salts (mainly chlorides, Table 3 and Fig. 9),
the pore radii is highly expected to be altered (Angeli et al.,
2007) to become almost at the critical size that increases rock's
susceptibility to weathering particularly by salts.
The primary structure, particularly lamination increased by
increasing rock's clay content noted in the re-construction rock
(Fig. 5f), is expected to result in a decrease of rock's
iso-tropism (Table 3) from the constructional rock (with no
lamination noted on macro or micro-scale and very low clay
content) to the re-construction rock (with noticeable lamination
and clay content) at Hibis temple. This iso-tropism is also
considered as a secondary factor increasing rock’s
susceptibility to weathering (Tables 3 and 5) acting at this area
of investigation.
5. Conclusions
The field and laboratory investigations conducted on one of
the most important archaeological sites at the hot dry desert,
Hibis Temple, have achieved the conclusions summarized in
Table 6 and listed below:
The weathering forms’ type and dimensions clarified that
the overall damage category of this temple is Severe (DC= 4)
IF NOT from the constructional point of view, but from the
archaeological point of view that concern with the inscriptions
and original coloring at the different parts of this temple.
Urgent restoration of this temple and environmental controls
must be decided to preserve this site for longer tens of centuries
for the best of our Egyptian history that can't be recovered if
higher ranks of damage occurred.
The facies under investigation are sandstone with arkose
composition, arenite in texture but with higher clays (kaolinite)
in the re-construction and the control samples. The minor
variation in rock's composition and primary structure resulted
in a noticeable difference in facies' iso-tropism and
151
susceptibility to weathering where it is grading to higher
iso-tropism from weathered re-construction to the original
constructional sandstone passing by the control re-construction
sandstone.
The pore size distribution varies (based on rock’s salt
content, clay content and/or weathering on grain scale) among
these examined sandstones resulting in difference in rock’s Salt
Susceptibility class and value i.e. from salt prone (for the
HT-WC and HT-CS with higher SSI for the latter than the
former) to very salt prone for the HT-WR. This is also
confirmed on conducting the artificial salt weathering (CPI
12-12 regime) where the weight loss is 18% for the HT-WC
with durability class D, 26.5% for the HT-CS with durability
class D, while HT-WR sandstone has weight loss 42% with
durability class E. Conclusively, the re-construction rock at
Hibis Temple is not durable enough as that originally used for
construction several tens of centuries ago.
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