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-吉萨，埃及是雕刻出来的始新世中期石灰岩地层。在狮身人面像的情况下，雕像的上部，包括颈部和头部，由柔软和泥灰构成（称为Maadi Formation）。它们是高度多孔和洞穴状的，显示出受到水侵蚀的巨大影响的证据。目前，作为世界遗产之一的狮身人面像，石灰岩构件的侵蚀性劣化十分严重，由于无法使用狮身人面像遗址附近的任何样品，因此，作者试图从Mokkatam石灰岩的角度研究泥灰岩的劣化过程（称为金字塔石），被认为比Maadi组稍老，但在三个月的时间里观察到了石灰岩表面盐物质的重结晶过程，盐和水通过微孔的运输。电镜扫描显示了盐的孔径大小、分布及重结晶情况。本文所述的同样的试验也被要求应用于马阿迪组，以研究狮身人面像的保存。

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.