Quantification of Salt Weathering at Hot Deserts and Evaluation of Reconstruction Rock, Hibis Temple, Kharga Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt

抄録

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.