Quantitative Estimation on the Salinization and Slaking of Egypatian Mokattam Limestone

古代的岩石作品，如狮身人面像和金字塔——埃及吉萨，都是在始新世中期的石灰岩地层中雕刻出来的。就狮身人面像而言，雕像的上半部分，包括颈部和头部，由柔软的泥质地层（称为马迪地层）组成。它们是高度多孔和洞穴状的，显示了受到水侵蚀的严重影响的证据。目前，狮身人面像作为世界最重要的文化遗产之一，其石灰石构件已经严重退化。由于作者无法使用狮身人面像遗址附近的任何标本，他们试图以比马迪组更古老的Mokkatam石灰石（称为金字塔石）来研究灰岩变质的过程，但观察了石灰岩表面盐物质的再结晶过程，盐和水通过微孔的运输过程，为期三个月。电镜扫描显示了盐的孔洞大小、孔洞分布和再结晶过程。为了研究狮身人面像保存的可行性，要求将本文所描述的测试方法应用于马迪组。

Ancient rock works such as the Great Sphinx and Pyramids - Giza, Egypt were carved out of Middle Eocene limestone formations. In case of the Great Sphinx, the upper part of the statue, including the neck and the head, consists of soft and marly fomations (named Maadi Formation). They are highly porous and cavemous showing evidence of having been greatly affected by water erosion. At present, the Great Sphinx as one of the most important World Heritages has been seriously subjected to aggressive deterioration of limestone members.Since the authors could not employ any specimen sampled from the immediate site of the Sphinx, they tried to investigate the process of deterioration of marly limestone in terms of Mokkatam Limestone (called Pyramid Stone) which is considered to be a little older than Maadi Formation, but the process of recrystallization of salt substance on limestone surface, the transportation of salt and water through micro-pores was observed for the period of three months. The electron microscopic scanning illustrates pore-size, pore distribution and recrystallization of salt. The same test as described in this paper is requested to be applied to the Maadi Formation for the fasibility study on the preservation of the Great Sphinx.