Читать книгу Monument Future - Siegfried Siegesmund - Страница 342

Regarding its rich cultural, social and religious diversity, Mardin is an extraordinary example of an architectural ensemble. The weathering forms developed on monuments and the physico-mechanical properties of the limestone material have been discussed in the present study. The field surveys indicate that there are numerous weathering forms of various sizes, including efflorescence, alveolization, erosion, deposits and biological colonization, pigeon droppings on the monuments, which are evidence of the destruction and deterioration in progress. The physico-mechanical properties demonstrate that the questioned limestone samples have very high porosity, very low unit weight and weak compression strength. The durability of the material assessed by saturation coefficient and wet-to-dry strength ratio. It can be inferred from the assessment that, all the limestone samples have saturation coefficients of less than 0.8, which means the samples should not be susceptible to frost damage; however, this coefficient alone is not a reliable guide for evaluating the frost susceptibility and durability of rock material. On the other hand, the wet-to-dry strength ratio, limestone samples reflecting less durability. Considering the field observations, these results can be reliable for freshly quarried limestones. Further non-destructive investigations should be performed on the monuments and the results should be correlated with the fresh ones.